- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have used or are seeking to use their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to adjust non-domestic rates, broken down by financial year.
Answer
All local authorities have used their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to adjust non-domestic rates.
Table 1 shows relief awarded under section 3A of the Local Government (Financial Provisions etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962, as inserted by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, by local authority. Since 1 April 2023, relief for unoccupied properties (often referred to as Empty Property Relief) has been devolved to individual councils. To aid interpretation, local relief awards for 2023-2024 therefore also show the value of local reliefs excluding reliefs for unoccupied properties. Figures are presented to the nearest thousand and may not sum due to rounding.
[a] This negative figure is due to a correction to previously reported figures.
[b] These figures are currently unavailable due to software issues.
Data sources: Non-domestic rates income audited returns for 2016-2017 to 2022-2023. For 2023-2024, the latest available data (whether from the notified return, in the case of 12 councils, or audited return, for 20 councils) was used, though for all except one, the audited did not differ from the notified return.
Table 1: Local relief awards by council area, 2016-2017 to 2023-2024, £000
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Green Freeport relief is available for properties within the tax sites of Green Freeports in Scotland from the date of tax site designation, which was in 2024-25 for both Green Freeports. Local authorities will deliver this relief under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 powers and will be reimbursed by Scottish Government for any awards of this relief.
Investment Zone relief for properties within tax sites of Investment Zones in Scotland will be delivered under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 powers, in a similar manner to the Green Freeport relief.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how many small and medium-sized businesses have returned to their pre-COVID-19 pandemic profit levels, and how the value of those businesses compares with pre-pandemic levels.
Answer
Data is available on the share of SME employers that report a profit. These estimates, sourced from the Small Business Survey, are shown in Table 1. In 2019, 78% of SME employers in Scotland reported generating a profit, this fell to 70% in 2020, with the latest data for 2023 putting the share back at 78%.
Table 1: Taking into account all sources of income in the last financial year, did you generate a profit or surplus? – SME Employers - Scotland
Business Response | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Yes | 78% | 70% | 74% | 82% | 78% |
No | 17% | 24% | 21% | 15% | 19% |
Don't know | 4% | 5% | 5% | 3% | 2% |
Refused | 1% | 1% | [low] | 1% | 1% |
Scotland | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Source: Small Business Survey Scotland
Notes:
1.SMEs are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, that is businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
2.Some shorthand is used in this table: [low] = values between 0 and 0.5.
3.Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Data is also available on private sector SME turnover. These estimates, sourced from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), are shown in Table 2. Note that there is an approximate two-year lag associated with the turnover data on the IDBR so, for example, the turnover data extracted from the IDBR in March 2024 is for 2022. The data in Table 2 puts SME turnover at £143.5 billion in 2022, which is 19% above the pre-pandemic level (£120.5 billion in 2019). However, it’s important to note that the turnover values are not adjusted for inflation. In terms of the SME share of private sector turnover; this fell to around 40% in the pandemic but has since returned to around 42% in the latest years for which data are available.
Table 2: SME turnover – Scotland
IDBR
Extract
Date | Approx.
Turnover
Date | SME
Turnover
(£m) | SME share of private sector turnover |
Mar 2019 | 2017 | 116,708 | 41.5% |
Mar 2020 | 2018 | 119,998 | 41.2% |
Mar 2021 | 2019 | 120,515 | 40.3% |
Mar 2022 | 2020 | 110,593 | 40.2% |
Mar 2023 | 2021 | 122,872 | 42.4% |
Mar 2024 | 2022 | 143,491 | 41.7% |
Source: Inter-Departmental Business Register, Businesses in Scotland: 2024 - gov.scot
Notes:
1.Excludes central and local government.
2.SMEs are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, that is businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
3.Turnover for Financial and Insurance Activities businesses are not available on a comparable basis. Totals exclude turnover of such businesses.
4.Turnover values are in current prices, they are not adjusted for inflation.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage more local authorities to consider and utilise their existing powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to adjust non-domestic rates.
Answer
The original policy intent of the powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 was to support local decision making around non-domestic rates reliefs. Local authorities are independent bodies, and it is for local authorities themselves to consider whether to use those powers. However, the Scottish Government includes information on these powers in its non-domestic rates relief guidance issued to local authorities annually, and routinely works with councils and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation to ensure those powers are clearly understood.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what powers local authorities have under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to reduce non-domestic rates, and when any such powers came into effect.
Answer
Under Part 11 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, local authorities have very broad powers to reduce or remit any non-domestic rates bill for a property in their area. This part of the Act came into force on 31 October 2015.
Before using these powers, the local authority must take into consideration the council’s expenditure and income, as well as the interests of council tax payers. The local authority must also ensure that any use of the powers complies with obligations including those under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and other international commitments.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 28 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the economic impact of hybrid and remote working policies on city centre economies, and whether it will publish any such data.
Answer
Answer expected on 28 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 27 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes have closed in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) how many residents were affected by any closures.
Answer
In regards to part A of the question, there is no definitive list of closed care homes. The Care Inspectorate publish information relating to ‘Service Cancellations and Registrations’ in their quarterly statistical reports. The most recent version was published on 9 May 2025, which can be accessed via the following link:
https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/publications-statistics/182-statistics-and-data/statistics/quarterly-statistical-reports
This includes “care home services for older people, children & young people, mental health, alcohol & drugs misuse, learning disabilities and respite services.” The number of services that have been cancelled are available in the cancelled services column in the publication table.
It is important to note that in some cases the services listed as cancelled may have been re-registered under a different business name and care service number.
This data does not provide a breakdown to local authority or regional level, this is not available.
As regards part B of the question, no data is available on the number of residents affected by cancelled services. For more information we would suggest contacting Health and Social Care Partnerships to request this data for each area.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) business management teachers there are and (b) schools do not currently offer the subject, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Data on full-time equivalent (FTE) secondary teachers by main and other subject taught is available in the Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/
Information is not held on the subjects offered by individual schools as schools may be able to offer a subject even if they do not have a teacher for that subject in the staff census, for example through school-school or school-college partnerships.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent through public procurement in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) supplier location and (b) how much went to (i) small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and (ii) larger enterprises.
Answer
Using the data published from the ‘Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland’ the following table provides spend from the last available five years, broken down by supplier location and size. These figures are derived from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub - Scottish Government’s spend analytics shared service.
Public Procurement Spend : Supplier Location and Supplier Size Spend
Financial year | Total Spend | Spend within Scotland | Spend not registered within Scotland | Total SME spend | Total Large spend |
2022-2023 | £16.6 billion | £8.9 billion | £7.7 billion | £7.1 billion | £7.9 billion |
2021-2022 | £16 billion | £8.9 billion | £7.1 billion | £6.4 billion | £8.1 billion |
2020-2021 | £14.5 billion | £8.3 billion | £6.2 billion | £5.5 billion | £7.2 billion |
2019-2020 | £13.3 billion | £7.4 billion | £5.9 billion | £5.4 billion | £6.3 billion |
2018-2019 | £12.6 billion | £6.9 billion | £5.7 billion | £5.2 billion | £5.9 billion |
Supplier location is based on the registered invoice postcode of the supplier. Supplier size is based only on number of employees where known. SMEs are defined as those with fewer than 250 employees. Due to incomplete or unavailable supplier invoice data; employee size cannot be accurately determined for some spend resulting in the SME and Large Spend totals being less than the total spend figure.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 21 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many people it currently estimates are not in education, employment or training, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b) gender and (c) the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile of the area in which they are located.
Answer
Answer expected on 21 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 23 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the revenue received by bus operators is currently generated from (a) full-fare-paying passengers and (b) concessionary fares subsidised by the Scottish Government; how this compares with the equivalent average figures for the last (i) three, (ii) five and (iii) 10 years, and what percentage of the subsidised fares charged by bus operators it (A) currently funds and (B) has funded on average in the last (1) three, (2) five and (3) 10 years, also broken down by operator.
Answer
Transport Scotland provides reimbursement to bus operators in Scotland for providing free bus travel to those eligible through the National Concessionary Travel Schemes (NCTS). Reimbursement is paid to operators at a level which aims to ensure they are left financially no better and no worse off as a result of their participation in the schemes, and is therefore not considered as a subsidy payment.
Details of total operator revenue over the past 10 years, including passenger revenue and concessionary travel reimbursement can be found in Scottish Transport Statistics tables 2.8 and 2.9, available at: Chapter 2 - Bus and Coach travel | Transport Scotland
