Asked by: Simpson, Graham (Reform UK - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the proposal in the draft Budget 2026-27 that retail, hospitality and leisure firms liable for the basic and intermediate property rate will be eligible for 15% non-domestic rates relief, how much it would cost to extend this to premises in this sector that are liable for the higher property rate.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
Internal Scottish Government estimates are that extending the 15% relief to non-domestic rates (NDR) for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties liable for the Basic or Intermediate Property Rate, capped at £110,000 per business per year, announced in the draft Budget 2026-27, to include premises in these sectors liable for the Higher Property Rate, would cost an additional £36m in 2026-27, rising to £37m in 2027-28 and £38m in 2028-29.
The identification of properties in the RHL sectors are based on criteria used to identify eligible properties for the purpose of forecasting relief costs. Property class is used by the Scottish Assessors to describe the type of a property and may not accurately reflect its use in all cases. For example, a property classified as a ‘shop’ may in fact be used to offer financial services.
Asked by: Boyack, Sarah (Scottish Labour - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Recovery budget of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) has been reduced.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
Scottish public finances continue to face a challenging fiscal environment, with public services having to meet growing demand despite increasingly challenging settlements. Despite this, the Scottish Government remains committed to working with partners to continue to grow the community energy sector and has allocated £8.5 million to support community and local energy in 2026-27. This will support more communities across Scotland to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition by providing funding for them to develop renewable energy generation, heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39235 by Angela Constance on 30 July 2025, whether Malcolm McMillan has concluded his consideration of the conclusions of the peer review; if so, when; if not, and in light of it being six months later, what efforts it has made to assist him in his consideration; what its position is on whether there is "any further action needed"; when the paper will finally be published, and for what reason its expectation that it would be published "no later than the end of [2025]" was not met.
Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Consideration of the peer review undertaken on the research paper from Malcolm McMillan on the roles and functions of the Scottish Law Officers has taken slightly longer than anticipated and is now concluded. The paper has been updated accordingly and has now reached proposed final version, any further action is currently under active ministerial consideration.
Asked by: Hamilton, Rachael (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities there are for communities affected by a proposed development, such as the Center Parcs proposal in the Scottish Borders, to have representations considered by ministers once a byelaw application has been submitted for determination.
Answered by Gougeon, Mairi - Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands
Section 202(7) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 makes provisions for any aggrieved party to object to Scottish Ministers, as confirming authority, within 12 weeks of the notice of intention to apply for confirmation of the byelaws having been made by the Local Authority. The period for representations to be made to Scottish Ministers regarding the proposed byelaws related to the Center Parcs development opened on 19 September 2025 and closed on 5th December 2025.
Asked by: Golden, Maurice (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff have been allocated to the development of management measures for inshore Priority Marine Features, in each week since 2 September 2025.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43533 on 12 February 2026. 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.
Asked by: McMillan, Stuart (Scottish National Party - Greenock and Inverclyde)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, following the publication of the non-domestic rates revaluation statistics on 13 January 2026, what shifts there have been in rateable value by property class, in each local authority area.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
The non-domestic rates revaluation 2026 draft valuation roll statistics, originally released on 13 January and available at Non-domestic rates revaluation 2026: draft valuation roll statistics, were updated on 11 February to include a breakdown of changes by council area and property class. This information is now available in Table 2a.
Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Liberal Democrats - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any impact of the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector on Scotland’s competitiveness in attracting cruise business.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43556 on 12 February 2026. 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.
Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Liberal Democrats - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered using any funds raised from the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector to support maritime decarbonisation projects.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43554 on 12 February 2026. 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.
Asked by: Golden, Maurice (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what area of Scotland's seabed located within the proposed Priority Marine Feature management area options, as published in September 2025, has been subject to towed bottom-contact gear, such as scallop dredging and trawling for nephrops, since the publication of the consultation on protection from these practices in July 2018.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
The following table sets out the area (in km2) within the proposed Priority Marine Feature (PMF) management areas (options 1 & 2) that have been subject to towed bottom-contacting fishing activity. These figures are drawn from the available dataset used to inform the assessments underpinning the consultation on the proposed PMF management measures. The years used are between 2015 and 2022 (the years of 2020 – 2021 were not considered representative of regular fishing activity due to the Covid pandemic and so were not included). It should be noted that the dataset relates only to vessels over 12 metres in length that are required to carry an electronic Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and therefore does not capture activity by smaller vessels.
Option 1 | Option 2 | |
Total area of proposed PMF areas (km2) | 922.2 | 1223.7 |
Total area fished by towed bottom contacting gears (km2) | 142.6 | 235.1 |
Asked by: Dowey, Sharon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - South Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) regarding the Matthews (Second Options) Case for retained firefighters, and whether a calculation and statement will be sent by the SPPA to all eligible members by the March 2026 deadline.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
In March 2025 the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) paused delivery of the Matthews Second Options exercise to enable it to accelerate progress in other dependent remediation work.
The timescale for issuing calculations and statements to firefighters was initially anticipated to be between October 2025 and March 2026. This timetable has subsequently been revised and these statements will be issued from April 2026, allowing eligible retained firefighters to make an application under the rules.
The SPPA website contains further useful information about the Matthews Second Options exercise: https://pensions.gov.scot/firefighters/matthews-2nd-option-case.