Chamber and committees

Please see below for a breakdown of the collective advertising spend given to community radio stations over the past five financial years, as the 2024-25 financial year is not yet complete the information is not included. This breakdown includes a list of the stations that received advertising spend within each year. Information on individual spend per radio station is not available to us as this is deemed commercially sensitive.

My December 2025-25 Budget announcement included the commitment to conduct our first five-year review of LBTT by the end of this Parliament, to support an evaluation of key aspects of the tax legislation, including the application of the ADS where exceptional circumstances and events occur.

As part of this review, officials will engage a range stakeholders and members of the public on a range of general and specific relating to the LBTT and Additional Dwelling Supplement legislation.

The upcoming review will in part look to build further understanding on the impact of the ADS where difficult or exceptional circumstances apply, as well as understanding any complexities and uncertainties for the tax system for accommodating any subsequent changes.

The review, which will commence this coming spring, will support decisions in the next Parliament on the case for any legislative changes.

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with other governments where it can accelerate progress towards Scotland’s economic and net zero targets. On 20 October 2024, the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments jointly commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for the energy system, land and sea, across Great Britain (GB).

NESO has since consulted on a draft methodology for the SSEP, which closed on 17 January 2025. As co-commissioners of the SSEP, the Scottish Government welcomes the consultation and continued engagement with stakeholders on the plan as it develops. Key to the plan’s success will be ensuring that developer and investor confidence is maintained throughout.

The Scottish Government and its officials will continue to work closely with NESO, the UK and Welsh Governments on the plan as it develops, to ensure that it considers devolved powers and ambitions, delivers real benefits for the people and communities of Scotland and supports our ongoing efforts for a just transition.

Registers of Scotland is a non-Ministerial Public Body answerable to the Scottish Parliament.

The work of the Registers of Scotland is demand led, depending on the volume of activity in the housing market. RoS is continuously working to improve its efficiency and thereby keep its running costs as low as possible. The costs of running RoS are largely covered by the fees charged for its services, and that is expected to remain the position.

The following tables present the estimated number of self-catering properties receiving Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) relief as at 1 June 2024, broken down in Table 1 by assessor, and in Table 2 by local authority, for properties receiving 100% SBBS, 25% SBBS, other proportions of SBBS, and no SBBS relief. These tables include all self-catering properties on the valuation roll.

The occupier of a non-domestic property is statutorily liable for non-domestic rates (though in prescribed circumstances the council can transfer the liability to the owner of the property where the occupier and the owner are different). It is not possible from information held to determine whether the occupier is also the owner of a property and therefore who the beneficiary of any relief would be.

It is also not possible to provide the number of self-catering properties receiving SBBS relief for the financial year 2023-2024. This is due to data issues within the 2023 Billing System snapshot. Equivalent figures for 2022-2023 can be found in the response to question S6W-12631 on 12 December 2022. 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.

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 not in receipt of SBBS relief due to having a combined rateable value in excess of £35,000. From 1 April 2023, SBBS relief includes a taper from 100% for properties with a rateable value up to and including £12,000, to 25% where the rateable value is £15,000, and to 0% where the rateable value is £20,000 or higher. 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 rounded to the nearest ten, and those relating to more than zero but fewer than five units have been marked [low] to distinguish from actual zero values. The data sources for both tables are the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 June 2024, and local authority reliefs information as at 1 June 2024. Final outturn data for 2024-2025 may vary.

Table 1: Number of self-catering properties receiving SBBS relief as at 1 June 2024, by assessor and SBBS percentage

With regard to a), Scottish Government does not have precise information but we understand that an estimated 110,000 animals were processed by the three largest venison processors in Scotland in 2022-23. However, this figure includes around 20,000 carcasses originating from England and New Zealand. Some wild deer will also have been processed for commercial meat sales by smaller establishments and some will have been sold direct to the public at the farm gate.

With regard to b), we do not collect information on carcasses integrated back into the local ecosystems. Industry advise that deer are left on the hill very rarely and only by exception, where the animal has been checked to ensure there is no disease but is otherwise unfit for human consumption or because extraction of the carcase poses a risk to the safety of the stalker, for example because of steep and rocky ground.

With regard to c), this information is not available.

No formal assessment has been made of the potential economic impact of increasing the number of culled deer entering the food supply chain. There is a great opportunity, however, for the industry including venison processors and retailers to promote this local, healthy and sustainable protein and increase venison consumption.

Allocating spectrum and assessing appropriate levels of local content is the responsibility of Ofcom. While spectrum regulation is not a devolved matter, the Scottish Government maintains a close interest in stakeholder and audience views in relation to reception and spectrum allocation because of the wider implications for the economic, creative and cultural sectors in Scotland.

We continue to set out to Ofcom and the UK Government that maintaining and developing a radio network in Scotland that meets the specific needs for both urban and rural areas across the country, is key to ensuring audiences in Scotland are kept informed and entertained, and we will continue to do so. Our view remains that it is essential that local voices and coverage of local issues are protected and enhanced, and that the regulatory framework should allow for clear and effective regulation of the requirements.

Fundamentally, we believe that broadcasting should be devolved so that the decisions that impact audiences and the creative industries in Scotland can be determined by the Scottish public through the Scottish Parliament.

The proportion of Scottish Government marketing spend that has been allocated to community radio in each of the previous five years is as follows:

It is not possible for FLS to maintain and hold data on the final destination of venison that it sells beyond keeping records of sales to meat processing establishments. Final destinations for venison is a decision for downstream businesses in the supply chain.