Chamber and committees

We understand the economic and social impact that restrictions are having on businesses and communities, that is why we have put in place a package of package of support worth over £2.3 billion to limit the impact of COVID-19 and this month we also confirmed £48 million of new support through our Covid-19 Restrictions Fund to help affected businesses and protect jobs.

With local businesses playing a key role in building stronger communities, we have awarded a number of to support small business through this challenging time. Statistics on grants awarded by Local Authorities through the Small Business Grant Scheme and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ . Statistics on the grants for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF), and Bed and Breakfasts Hardship Fund (B&BHF) are published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics

We are increasing our investment in the Parental Employability Support Fund by £2.35 million for those most at-risk of poverty, including disabled, young, and ethnic minority parents. We are also extending the Fair Start Scotland service for a further two years to March 2023. This will provide support for unemployed disabled people, those with health conditions and/or other barriers to moving into fair and sustained work.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): Fair Work Joint Statement also outlines our expectations regarding fair work practices in restarting Scotland’s economy: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fair-work-statement/ .

The Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland 2019 reports that public procurement spend generates around £10 billion of economic activity for Scotland, contributing £6 billion to Scottish Gross Domestic Product, supporting around 100,000 full time equivalent jobs.

In April 2018 to March 2019 the Scottish Government’s contracts enabled the creation of 212 new jobs, 41 new apprenticeships, and 109 new work placements.

Communities, including those affected by the COVID-19 restrictions in West Lothian, Midlothian and the City of Edinburgh, continue to be supported by investment through the Scottish Government’s Communities funding package. Details of funding allocated by local authority area can be found using the Scottish Government’s Communities Fund Mapping Tool .

The tool highlights that since the start of the pandemic over £24.5 million has been allocated to support communities in West Lothian (£6m), Midlothian (£3.1m) and the City of Edinburgh (£15.4m). These areas also benefit from wider investments including those set out in recent correspondence to the Communities Committee . On 20 October 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People announced a further £30 million of funding to tackle financial insecurity across the winter period and continue the provision of Free School Meals during school holidays, allocations for this funding will be made available once formally agreed with COSLA Leaders.

To support businesses affected by the temporary restrictions put in place from 9 October, I announced the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund on 13 October, making an initial £40 million available. An increase to the value of grants through the scheme was announced on 21 October, with increased funding available to support businesses affected by the extension of restrictions.

These measures are part of the wider £2.3 billion package of support for business, including an estimated £972 million worth of COVID reliefs to reduce business costs during the pandemic, over £1 billion worth of business support fund grants and almost £160 million of additional grant support for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and newly self-employed people.

Statistics on grants awarded by Local Authorities through the Small Business Grant Scheme and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

Statistics on the grants for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF), and Bed and Breakfasts Hardship Fund (B&BHF) are published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics

Statistics on relief awards by Local Authority will be available in the Non-domestic rates relief statistics publication scheduled for release on 30 November 2020. Grant awards through the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund will be reported in due course.

This unprecedented and fast-moving support recognises the crucial role that local authorities have during the Covid-19 crisis, and that the Scottish Government is committed to continue to deliver for businesses, communities and especially the most disadvantaged in our society.

As explained in the answer to S5W-31461 and subsequently in the media, prior to the Sunday Post article neither Scottish Minister or Government officials had information on the testing status of patients prior to discharge.

Throughout the pandemic our guidance has been regularly updated, based on the best clinical evidence available at the time. On 13 March guidance was explicit that steps that should be taken to ensure that individual patients were screened clinically to ensure that people at risk were not transferred inappropriately. Decisions regarding readiness for discharge, and the care required after discharge are for the clinician and multi-disciplinary team caring for the patient to make.

Publish Health Scotland have been working to bring this information together, and will publish validated statistics shortly.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and no Scottish Enterprise staff have been made redundant. I have passed your query to Linda Hanna, the Interim Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, who will provide an answer to you directly.

The Scottish Government has confirmed additional funding of £1.1 billion to support the health and social care sector in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding announcement provides support for the additional costs reported by Boards in responding to COVID-19, including additional staffing and equipment costs included in Local Mobilisation Plans. Detail on how this funding has been used to specifically support respiratory services, and to supplement existing baseline spend on respiratory services, would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

Detail on funding for each NHS Board area is set out in response to question S5W-32107 on 29 September 2020. Further funding will be made available in the coming months following our ongoing reviews of financial implications across the sector.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is committed to providing the necessary funding across health and care services to recognise the additional costs of responding to COVID-19, to support remobilisation of services, and to ensure that safety remains the top priority at all times. To date over £150 million has been allocated to Health and Social Care partnerships (HSCPs) for social care as part of our additional COVID funding. This has been used by HSCPs to deal with all of the financial implications of the pandemic, including additional care home places and to support care home providers for reduced occupancy levels.

We have also committed to provide additional funding where required following further review in November.

The following table provides information on how social care funding to date has been allocated by Scottish Government to Health Boards who in turn distribute this onwards to HSCPs based on local agreement.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have passed your query to Linda Hanna, the Interim Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, who will provide an answer to you directly.