To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has powers to provide council tax rebates to service personnel serving abroad and, if so, whether it will consider providing such assistance.

The Scottish Parliament may legislate to create exemptions from council tax for specified groups of people. Scottish ministers supported the Prime Minister’s announcement in October 2006 that he would look into providing support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas. Discussions between officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Ministry of Defence, which have also involved officials from the Scottish Executive, about how best to provide support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas are on-going.