Small Business Bonus Scheme: evaluation

Appendix A: Additional survey information

A.1 Covering letter

Dear Occupier,

Small Business Bonus Scheme Survey

The Fraser of Allander Institute has been tasked by the Scottish Government to evaluate the effectiveness of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS). As part of this research we are asking a sample of businesses in Scotland to complete a short survey, and your business has been selected to be part of this sample (even though you might not receive SBBS).

It is really important that we get responses from a representative sample of businesses: while we know your time is valuable, we would really appreciate if you would complete the survey, which should only take 10-15 minutes.

Your unique identifier:

«Unique_Survey_ID»

QR code

To complete the survey, please go to www.fraserofallander.org/SBBS. Alternatively, you can scan the QR code below. Please take care to enter the reference number printed in large red font below in the online survey.

We would prefer that you complete the survey online, but if you want to complete the survey on paper, please find it enclosed with this.

You are being contacted using details provided in the publically available Valuation Roll. This contains an entry for all non-domestic properties except those specifically excluded by law and is maintained by Scottish Assessors. It can be accessed at https://www.saa.gov.uk/.

This survey has been designed and will be analysed by the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) at the University of Strathclyde. The analysis of the survey's responses will help inform the conclusions of the SBBS evaluation. Any information you provide will be treated in strict confidence and any analysis and storage of data will be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation. Details on non-domestic rates can be found at https://www.gov.scot/policies/local-government/non-domestic-rates/, and details of this research project along with frequently asked questions can be found at https://www.strath.ac.uk/business/economics/fraserofallanderinstitute/publications/faisurveys/sbbssurvey2020/.

Your response is appreciated by 31^st March 2020. If you have any queries, please contact the FAI on 0141 548 3958 between the hours of 9am and 5pm, or by e-mail at fraser@strath.ac.uk.

May we thank you in advance for your time in completing the survey and helping us to undertake the important task of evaluating the SBBS. We really appreciate your support with this project.

Best wishes,

Professor Graeme Roy, Director, Fraser of Allander Institute

Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist, Scottish Government

A.2 Full survey

SBBS Survey

Please respond to this survey from the perspective of the business located at this address if your business occupies a single property; if your business occupies multiple properties, please respond to the survey from the perspective of the business as a whole.

Consent and data handling

By completing this survey you are consenting to your survey data being used as part of research undertaken by the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde into non-domestic rates. The collected survey data will be used as evidence in research outputs such as reports.

Individual survey returns will remain completely confidential, and will not be shared outside the project research team at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Anonymised data from the surveys will be shared with the Scottish Government. Participation in the survey assumes consent for data handling in line with this purpose. All data will be held in accordance with the University of Strathclyde's and the Scottish Government's data protection policies. Your data will be stored for a maximum period of two years. For more details please see:

https://www.strath.ac.uk/professionalservices/media/ps/strategyandpolicy/DP_Policy.pdf

Business details

Q1) How old is your business?

• 0 – 5 years
• 5 – 10 years
• 10+ years

Q2) What industry/ies best reflects/reflect the activities that your business operates in?

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Mining and Quarrying Industries
• Manufacturing
• Electricity & Gas Supply; Water Supply & Waste Management
• Retail & Wholesale
• Accommodation and Food Services (e.g. cafes and restaurants)
• Transport, Storage and Communication including Computer Services
• Finance and Insurance Services
• Business Services, e.g. Engineering, Professional / Administrative Services and Real Estate
• Public administration, Education, Health, Care
• Other Services, e.g. Cultural, Entertainment, Sports, Repairs to Personal Items, Personal Services

Q3) If your business has a single property, is it owned or rented? If your business has multiple properties, are these mostly owned or mostly rented?

• Owned
• Rented

Q4) Does your business also have premises in

• Rest of the UK?
• Rest of the world?

Business outcomes

Q5) Please complete the following table detailing the average number of full-time equivalent* employees in the business in each of the years indicated. Please include all short-term/casual staff, do not count owners/partners, exclude any agency staff, and be as accurate as you can in providing this information.

Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

* e.g. A person working half the hours of full-time for a whole year, or a person working full-time for half the year, is a full-time equivalent of 0.5. A short-term member of staff only working in December is a full-time equivalent of 0.083. A person working on Saturdays only is a full-time equivalent of 0.2.

Q6) Please complete the following table detailing the turnover for the business for the last three financial years to the nearest £1,000.

My financial year runs from month:

Turnover

• 2018/19
• 2017/18
• 2016/17

Q7) How would you describe the current position of the business (tick the closest description)?

• Contracting rapidly
• Contracting moderately
• Stable
• Growing moderately
• Growing rapidly

Operations

Q8) If you compare your expenditure in 2019 with your expenditure in 2017, how would you say your level of expenditure in each of the following areas has changed?

	Decreased	No change	Increased	N/A
Hourly wages
Training expenditure per member of staff
Investment in new equipment
Research and development
Other business charges (e.g., water; waste collection; etc)
Advertising/marketing
Capital expenditure on business premises
Non-domestic rates
Rent for business premises
Taxes

Q9) Do all of your employees aged over 25 receive at least the Real Living Wage (£9.30 per hour)?

• No
• Yes

Q10) Considering your business costs, please rate each of the following costs in terms of importance to the operation of your business (if any are not relevant, please indicate with n/a)

	Unimportant	Important	Very important	n/a
Rent for business premises (if applicable)
Physical stock
Wages and other employee costs
Equipment
Utilities (electricity, gas, water, telephony/broadband)
Transport and fuel
Non-domestic rates
VAT
Other taxes (e.g. corporation tax)

Q11) Suppose that your monthly business costs increased by £300 per month. Which, if any, of the following aspects of your business might be affected? Please tick all that apply.

• No impact
• Almost no impact
• Decrease number of staff / staff hours
• Decrease wages
• Decrease investment in training
• Decrease investment in equipment
• Reduce scale of operation within current premises
• Move to smaller business premises
• Reduced business viability
• Other (please specify)

Q12) Suppose that your monthly business costs decreased by £300 per month. Which, if any, of the following aspects of your business might be affected? Please tick all that apply.

• No impact
• Almost no impact
• Increase number of staff / staff hours
• Increase wages
• Increase investment in training
• Increase investment in equipment
• Increase scale of operation within current premises
• Move to larger business premises
• Improved business viability
• Other (please specify)

Q13) Considering government spending, how important is it to your business that the government spends additional money on the following? (If any are not relevant, please indicate with n/a).

	Unimportant	Important	Very important	n/a
Vocational training, education and skills
Public transport
Support for town centres
Business services (e.g. waste collection)
Non-domestic rates relief
Other business support, e.g. grants

Q14) What are your business's main priorities for the coming year? Please rate each of the following potential priorities on a scale from 1 (not thinking about this) to 5 (key priority).

	1	2	3	4	5
Increase the number or hours of staff
Increase the remuneration of staff
Expand into new markets
Increase turnover
Improve customer satisfaction
Expand current business premises
Move to a larger business premises
Change location to reduce costs
Investing in or adding new products or services
Reduce staffing costs
Reduce other business costs
Survival

SBBS questions

Q15) Do you know how much your non-domestic rates bill is?

• No
• Yes

Q16) Who takes responsibility for paying the rates bill for the property/ies your business occupies? If your business has more than one property please give the most typical answer.

• I pay the rates bill
• I use a rating agent to pay the rates bill
• My landlord pays the rates bill
• I don't know who pays the rates bill
• My head office pays the rates bill
• Other (please specify):

Q17) Have you heard of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS)?

• No
• Yes

Q18) Do you know the current 'rateable value' of the property/ies your business occupies? If so, what is it (if you have multiple properties, please enter the total)? Please answer to the nearest £1,000.

• No
• Yes

Q19) Do you receive SBBS relief on your non-domestic rates for any of your business properties and if so, how much?

• No
• 25%
• 100%
• Don't know
• Other (please specify)

Q20) If you do not claim SBBS relief on your business property/ies, please state why

• My business is not eligible for SBBS relief
• I am not aware that I can claim SBBS relief
• I haven't completed the paperwork to claim
• I claim other relief(s), e.g. charitable exemption

Q21) Do you receive any other type of business grant support? E.g. from Scottish Enterprise.

• No
• Yes

Q22) If you receive SBBS relief, what is the impact of receiving the relief on the following aspects of your business? Please answer on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is no impact and 5 is substantial impact.

	1	2	3	4	5
Hiring more staff or increasing staff hours
Paying the Real Living Wage
Investing in business improvements such as new equipment, products, systems, upgrades to premises etc
Investing in staff training
Business survival
Other (please specify below)

Please answer the following questions on the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS).

Q23) Every business, no matter how small, should pay at least some non-domestic rates to make a contribution to local services.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q24) SBBS is important in supporting town centres.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q25) SBBS is ineffective in supporting small businesses as any relief received is reflected in higher property rent.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q26) SBBS relief represents only a small cost saving for businesses relative to the other costs they face.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q27) SBBS gives an unfair competitive advantage to recipients.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q28) SBBS, which provided £254m of relief in 2018-19, is a good use of public money.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q29) SBBS is a key factor in business location choice.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q30) SBBS relief eligibility is a factor in decisions about investment in improving/expanding business property/ies.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither disagree nor agree
• Agree
• Strongly agree
• Don't know

Q31) What, in your opinion, are the benefits or costs of SBBS to communities and local economies?

Q32) Is there anything else you want to tell us about SBBS?

Q33) Would you be willing to provide contact details so that we can get back in touch to ask any clarification questions we might have? If so, please provide your name and a telephone number below.

Name

Phone

A.3 Additional tables and figures on the survey sample/design

Table A.1: Property types excluded from the survey sampling frame

Property type (core)	No.	Additional Criterion	Property type (core)	No.
Car Space	551	RV <=£500	Lock-Up	669
Caravan	1,236	RV <=£500	Mast	8
Chalet	87	RV <=£500	Military Facility	62
Garage	171	RV <=£500	Minerals	97
Garden	19	RV <=£500	Monitoring Site	10
Holiday Hut	115	RV <=£500	Monument	8
Home	5	RV <=£500	Oil	51
Shootings	5,074		Oil Tank	11
Aerial	7		Park	6
Ambulance Station	4		Peat Moss	40
Anemometer Mast	51		Pigeon Loft	50
ATM Site	2,163		Pipeline	58
Bothy	338		Place of Worship	4,065
Burial Ground	88		Playing Field	67
Coastguard Station	3		Police Station	41
Common Room	9		Prison	5
Communications	33		Public Toilet	90
Community Centre	496		Recreation Ground	169
Coup	34		Sand & Gravel	83
Display Area	15		Slipway	6
District Heating	16		Stance	469
Electricity	387		Sui Generis	373
Fire Station	7		Taxi Rank	1
Fishing Hut	362		Telecommunications	186
Fishings	2,309		Traffic Monitoring	17
Fuel Tank	19		Water	16
Gas	55		Weighbridge	6
Grazings	38		Total	20,763
Historic Building	45
Hut	279
Lifeboat Station	43
Lighthouse	9
Lobster Pond	4