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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 43118 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-19898

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent known level at which business rates begin to be paid for the rateable value of individual properties is in Scotland, and what information it has on how this compares with the level in (a) England and (b) Wales.

The Scottish Budget delivered a package of reliefs for 2023-24 worth £749 million, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme which offers up to 100% relief for eligible individual properties in Scotland with a rateable value of up to £20,000.

To improve the design of the scheme, the Scottish Government expanded the upper eligibility threshold for the Small Business Bonus Scheme from £18,000 to £20,000 and made the relief more progressive by introducing a taper for properties with a rateable value between £12,001 and £20,000. The Small Business Bonus Scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK, and continues to take 100,000 properties out of rates altogether. Table 1 provides a comparison of small business rates reliefs in Scotland, England and Wales.

Table 1: Small Business Rates Reliefs in Scotland, England and Wales in 2023-24

Scotland

England

Wales

Small business 100% relief threshold (rateable value) *

The relief is 100% for properties with a rateable value up to £12,000.

The relief is 100% for properties with a rateable value up to £12,000

The relief is 100% for properties with a rateable value up to £6,000.

Small business relief thresholds (rateable value) for relief less than 100% *

The relief tapers from 100% to 25% for properties with rateable value from £12,001 to £15,000.

The relief tapers from 25% to 0% for properties with a rateable value from £15,001 to £20,000.

The relief tapers from 100% to 0% for properties with a rateable value from £12,001 to £15,000.

The relief tapers from 100% to 0% for properties with a rateable value from £6,001 to £12,000.

Small business relief cumulative rules for ratepayers with multiple properties.

The relief may also be available for ratepayers with multiple properties where the total rateable value of all of the properties does not exceed £35,000.

Where the total rateable value is £12,000 or less, the relief is 100%.

Where total rateable value is between £12,001 to £35,000:

The relief is 25% for properties with an individual rateable value of £15,000 or less.

The relief tapers from 25% to 0% for properties with an individual rateable value of £15,001 to £20,000.

The relief is available for ratepayers with only one property.

If a ratepayer occupies a second property, the relief continues to be available on the existing property for 12 months before expiring, unless the rateable values of both properties are less than £2,900 and the total rateable value is less than £20,000 (£28,000 in London).

The relief is limited to two properties per business in each local authority.

*Note: A property is required to meet eligibility criteria other than rateable value in order to be eligible for the relief. For example, in Scotland properties used for the purposes of payday lending or betting shops are not eligible. Similarly, there are eligibility restrictions for ratepayers occupying multiple properties as shown in the table.

Question reference: S6W-19897

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent known level of Income Tax paid at the UK median wage for all employees is in Scotland, and what information it has on how this compares with the level paid in the rest of the UK.

According to the latest available data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2022, the median wage for employees in the UK was £27,756 in 2022.

At this level of income, and at the 2023-24 rates and bands of Scottish Income Tax, someone in Scotland would have an annual tax liability of £3,036.26. Someone living in the rest of the UK on this salary would have an annual tax liability of £3,037.20.

Question reference: S6W-19880

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Preference Waiver Payments have been made to student teachers completing their probation year in the North East Scotland region in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-19881

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many bursaries have been awarded to teachers in (a) total and (b) Aberdeenshire in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-19894

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the latest known levels of people in the 25- to 64-year-old population who have been educated to tertiary level in Scotland, and on how this compares to the levels in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Information on the share of population 25 to 64 years old with tertiary education is published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is available here.

	2020	2021	2022
Scotland	55.7	55.2	57.9
Wales	43.4	44.3	46.3
Northern Ireland	44.1	48.8	42.3
North East England	38.1	39.7	39.3
North West England	44.0	44.0	47.0
Yorkshire and The Humber	41.4	44.4	45.0
East Midlands	43.8	42.6	43.8
West Midlands	43.1	44.2	45.1
East of England	44.6	45.2	47.1
Greater London	68.4	69.8	69.9
South East England	51.8	51.6	54.1
South West England	47.2	48.0	48.4
United Kingdom	49.4	50.1	..

Source: OECD Regional Education, July 2023

.. Not currently available

Question reference: S6W-19896

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent level of health spending per person is in Scotland, and what information it has on how this compares with spending in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Based on HM Treasury’s Country and Regional Analysis (2021-22), frontline Health spend per head in Scotland is £3,377, which is £323 (10.6%) higher than in England and £74 (2.2%) higher than in Wales. Proportionally, this equates to almost £1.8 billion more spending on frontline health services in Scotland compared to England, and almost £405 million more compared to Wales – equivalent to around 44,000 and 10,000 nurses, respectively.

Question reference: S6W-19869

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what long-term assessment has been made of its biodiversity strategy, with particular regard to commercial forestry.

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) sets out Priority Actions which are urgently required to achieve the vision of halting biodiversity loss by 2030 and reversing the trend by 2045, whilst contributing to addressing climate change. Of particular relevance to forestry is the following priority action, which recognises the important role that can be played by all types of woodland, including commercial forests.

Ensure that productive forests and woodlands are designed and managed in ways that deliver increased biodiversity and habitat connectivity whilst sustaining timber production and carbon sequestration to meet the climate crisis and reduce their vulnerability to climate risks.

The action will be delivered through the Scottish Forestry Strategy (SFS), which is built on the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM), including commitments to biodiversity. A set of high-level indicators has been identified to track and report progress against the SFS including the Woodland Ecological Condition official statistic, Designated Site Condition Monitoring, abundance of terrestrial breeding birds, and the area of woodland independently certified by the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme (UKWAS). It is anticipated that achieving the goals of the SBS will increase the biodiversity value of productive woodlands without adversely affecting the sustainable production of timber in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19866

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many interim care beds were available prior to the announcement by the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on 10 January 2023 regarding more beds being made available; how many were available during the period from 10 January to 31 March 2023, and how many beds are currently available.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. The Scottish Government did publish information on the number of people who were discharged to interim care placements procured using the additional funding offer made to Health and Social Care Partnerships. This data showed almost 500 people were discharged to interim care placements using the funding offer between 10 January and 3 April.

Weekly breakdowns of this data can be accessed through this link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/interim-care-placements-uptake/

Question reference: S6W-19957

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many reported incidences of fire-raising of vehicles within the (a) Scottish Prison Service estate and (b) estate of Scotland's two privately operated prisons there have been in each of the last five years.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

In each five years, there have been a total of 8 incidences of fire-raising of vehicles, shown in the following table:

	Scottish Prison Service estate	Privately Operated prisons
2018 – 2019	1	0
2019 – 2020	1	0
2020 – 2021	4	0
2021 – 2022	0	1
2022 – 2023	0	1

SPS take incidents such as fire-raising of vehicles belonging to prison staff incredibly seriously. Where such incidents occur, these will be reported to Police Scotland for further investigation.

A series of protective measures are in place within establishments and will compliment any support offered by Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19958

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in response to reported incidences of fire-raising of vehicles belonging to prison service staff.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19957 on 7 August 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Total
Aberdeen City	7	11	17	35
Aberdeenshire	4	12	9	25
Moray	30	50	31	111