Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-27358

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage local authorities to use their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to vary their business rates, and what information it has regarding which councils are (a) using and (b) seeking to use these powers in 2019-20.

In 2019-20 the Local Government finance settlement of £11.2 billion provided local authorities with a real terms increase in funding of
‎£310 million (2.9%).

The Scottish Government continues to encourage all local authorities to use their new powers under the Community Empowerment Act 2015, which grants them the wide-ranging flexibility to offer bespoke local rates relief schemes. The administering of reliefs under these new powers is a matter for local authorities who are independent bodies, democratically elected and accountable to their local electorate.

These powers were utilised in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19. Outturn data for 2019-20 is not yet available.

Question reference: S5W-27348

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties in each local authority area would be subject to the (a) Basic, (b) Intermediate and (c) Higher Property Rate poundage proposed in its Budget, broken down by industry sector, and how much it expects would be raised.

Question reference: S5W-27361

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of rates relief (a) has been in each of the last 10 years and (b) would be in 2020-21 under the proposals in its Budget.

The cost of Non-Domestic Rates Relief from 2010-11 to 2018-19 is published in Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics 2018-19, Table 2.17, available on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/#scottishlocalgovernmentfinancialstatistics

The estimated Relief costs for 2019-20 and 2020-21 are £756m and £744m respectively. These figures are based on forecasts and are liable to change until we receive the audited income returns.

Question reference: S5W-27357

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue raised by the business rates incentivisation scheme has been retained by each local authority (a) in each of the last five years and (b) since April 2019.

The additional non-domestic rates raised and retained by individual local authorities in 2014-15 – 2017-18, as a result of the business rates incentivisation scheme are set out in Local Government Finance Circulars 3/2016, 4/2017, 6/2018 and 7/2019, available on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-circulars/

The amounts eligible to be retained by individual local authorities for 2018-19, will be confirmed shortly and published in a Local Government Finance Circular.

The amounts eligible for retention for 2019-20 will be published following validation of the 2019-20 audited non-domestic rates income returns which are due later in 2020.

Question reference: S5W-27509

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action was taken following the ice fall on the Queensferry Crossing in 2019.

Following the occurrence of falling ice in March 2019 a multi-party review of the contributory factors and worldwide practice was undertaken.

This review concluded that management by operational practice remained appropriate, enhanced by additional forecasting and monitoring, as well as weather and ice monitoring sensors.

Arrangements are in progress for the supply and installation of additional weather and ice monitoring sensors which will be installed in the coming months.

Question reference: S5W-27354

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional revenue from business rates it expects would be generated in 2020-21 from the increase in the poundage rate proposed in its Budget, broken down by industry sector.

The estimated additional net Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) Income for 2020-21 generated by the annual increase to the poundage rate, which represents a below inflation increase of 1.6%, broken down by property type, is shown in the following table.

Please note that these estimates are based solely on the annual increase in the poundage and do not account for the decrease in NDR income as a result of the introduction of the Intermediate and Higher Property Rates.

CLASS	Estimated additional net NDR income (£m)
Advertising	0.1
Care Facilities	0.1
Communications	0.2
Cultural	0.1
Education and Training	3.1
Garages and Petrol Stations	0.5
Health and Medical	1.5
Hotels	1.9
Industrial Subjects	8.5
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	1.0
Offices	6.5
Other	0.9
Petrochemical	0.9
Public Houses	0.8
Public Service Subjects	2.1
Quarries, Mines, etc.	0.1
Religious	0.0
Shops	10.3
Sporting Subjects	0.2
Statutory Undertaking	7.3
All	46.1

Question reference: S5W-27511

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it received in relation to any risk of ice falling on the Queensferry Crossing during the design and building of the bridge.

The advice received by Transport Scotland’s expert engineering Consultants during the preliminary design stage was that the risk of ice accumulation was low. At the time there was no practical solution to prevent the formation of ice on the Queensferry Crossing and this should be managed as an operational matter.

During the final design the Contractor (FCBC) considered that the issue of falling ice should be managed as an operational matter by means of visual monitoring and appropriate traffic management should this be considered .

Question reference: S5W-27512

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation was carried out during the design and building of the Queensferry Crossing with other bridge designers and operators in relation to the risk of ice falling.

Question reference: S5W-27514

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic impact of the recent closures of the Queensferry Crossing.

Question reference: S5O-04205

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use its social security policies to address reported high levels of economic inactivity.