Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 9 November 2023.
Neil Gray
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government’s budget process is on-going. The Deputy First Minister’s tax advisory group is looking at areas such as that. I convene the new deal for business group, and the implementation plan that I am endeavouring to deliver on includes elements of non-domestic rate reform where that is possible.
We will be looking at what we can do to support businesses through non-domestic rates, but Murdo Fraser will know, as I do, that the business resilience information that I get and that is available through all the enterprise agencies demonstrates that the biggest challenges facing businesses right now are inflation, energy costs and interest rate rises, the responsibility for all of which lies firmly at the door of his Government at Westminster.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
