Chamber and committees

The Council Tax (Dwellings and Part Residential Subjects) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 introduced a 70-day per financial year letting requirement for premises to be classed as self-catering holiday accommodation, in addition to the previous requirement that they be available for let for 140 days or more. If a property does not meet the requirements set out in the regulations for self-catering holiday accommodation entered on to the valuation roll, then it will instead be classed a dwelling included on the Council Tax Valuation List.The Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 provides for civil penalties for failure to respond to assessor information notices, however this is not directly related to The Council Tax (Dwellings and Part Residential Subjects) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021. The Scottish Government does not hold information on any civil penalties issued under this Act.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 requires licensing authorities to maintain and publish a public register of short-term let licences on their website, or other website established for that purpose. The register is required to include a note of the kind and terms of each licence granted by the licensing authority, as well as other information set out in paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 of the Licensing Order.

Licensing authorities are also required to share content of their public register with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis for statistical analysis purposes. We expect to receive the first quarterly return for processing and analysis early in the new year. This initial return will include data relating to the number of short-term let licence applications received by 31 December 2022, and the status of those applications.

The Scottish Government is continuing to consider options for the delivery of a National Towns of Culture scheme. As this progresses, the Scottish Government will consult with the culture and creative sectors and community groups to help inform its decision making.

Four bids were submitted for Creative Scotland’s recent tender for a partner organisation to deliver ‘Youth-led Arts Funding For Young People’. The successful organisation will be announced early in the new year.

The following tables present the estimated value of Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) relief awarded to self-catering units as at 1 July 2022, broken down in Table 1 by local authority, and in Table 2 by assessor, for properties (unit owners cannot be reliably identified from the information held) receiving 100% SBBS, 25% SBBS, and other proportions of SBBS (e.g. when combined with other reliefs), and no SBBS relief. These tables include all self-catering properties in receipt of SBBS relief.

The Scottish Government cannot reliably estimate the cumulative rateable value of each ratepayer’s non-domestic properties and can therefore not state the number of self-catering units with a combined rateable value of £35,000 in receipt of the Small Business Bonus Scheme relief. To note however, ratepayers with a combined rateable value of £35,000 may still be eligible for SBBS relief where the individual property has a rateable value of £18,000 or less. To note as well a property may receive an SBBS award other than 100% or 25% relief, e.g. if awarded in conjunction with another relief. Eligibility for non-domestic rates reliefs, including SBBS, is set out in legislation and it is for local authorities to administer reliefs to eligible properties in accordance with that legislation.

Figures are presented in £thousands, and those relating to more than zero but fewer than five units have been marked [x] to distinguish from actual zero values. The data sources for both tables are the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 July 2022, and local authority reliefs information as at 1 July 2022. Final outturn data for 2022-23 may vary.

Table 1: Estimated value (£ thousands) of SBBS relief awarded to self-catering properties as at 1 July 2022, by local authority and SBBS percentage

Our internationally recognised Equally Safe strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (VAWG) emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes and victim blaming culture which enable such violence to take place. That is why through our Delivering Equally Safe Fund we support a range of projects which promote culture and behaviour change. This includes over £800,000 split between; White Ribbon Scotland to engage men as allies and change-makers; Zero Tolerance to develop professional skills in policy, practice and wider public campaigning; and Engender to explore primary prevention policy approaches.

As set out in the Programme for Government we will consult on draft laws to give effect to recommendations for criminal law reform contained in Baroness Kennedy’s Report, Misogyny, A Human Rights Issue , with a view to introducing legislation later in this Parliament. This sends a strong message that these behaviours are not, and will not be, accepted.

Education plays a key role in challenging attitudes, including victim blaming. That is why we fund and support education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at preventing gender-based violence such as the Equally Safe at School project, Mentors in Violence peer education programme and the Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group.

We also support campaigns and work by partners, such as Police Scotland’s “Don’t be that Guy” campaign as positive contributions which encourage men to take responsibility and challenges the notion that it is the responsibility of women and girls to protect themselves from male violence.

This Scottish Government has consistently championed our Veterans being the first Devolved Administration in the UK to create a Veterans Ministerial portfolio and the first nation in the UK to establish a Veterans Commissioner.

In August, we published our refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan in which we reaffirmed our longstanding commitment to our veterans, taking stock of the extensive services and support that the Scottish Government and our partners provide. This was informed by a light-touch consultation with key stakeholders to review our original action plan, first published in 2020, to establish the extent to which our existing commitments remained valid and where there were opportunities to add more detail to these commitments or add new ones. We identified a number of new commitments and updated several existing ones which will help us to better deliver and expand our support to our veterans and their families.

Furthermore, on 8 November I provided the Scottish Government’s annual update to Parliament on its support for the veterans and Armed Forces community. This was accompanied by a published written report which details fully the achievements we have made this year in delivering the commitments we have made to veterans and their families.

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner (SVC) also published her annual assessment of the Scottish Government’s progress against the recommendations made by the Commissioners since 2015. The SVC published this year’s progress report on 16 November which demonstrated good progress against recommendations made since 2015.

47,156 dwellings had an unoccupied exemption based on a snapshot as at September 2022. Further breakdowns are not held centrally.

As the Deputy First Minister noted in his appearance at the Finance and Public Administration Committee meeting on 4 October 2022, decisions in respect of amendments to the rates or bands for LBTT are to be taken as part of the Scottish Budget. This ensures that any prospective decisions are taken with all the relevant data and evidence in hand, while also supporting the principles of tax certainty and stability.

This information is not held centrally; it is a matter for the individual Health Boards.