Question reference: S6W-01547
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 15 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help the construction sector, following reports that 10% of the industry is at risk of failure as a result of the removal of (a) temporary measures introduced under Corporate Insolvency and Governance (CIGA), and (b) financial support schemes.
Answer
As I said in my reply to S6W-01546 on 29 July 2021, I chair the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) that meets monthly and is driving progress on the Construction Recovery Plan. Actions implemented so far include: introduced new ways of working for managing infection control health and safety; work to retain the current and future apprentice pipeline and the Construction Pipeline Forecast Tool.
Policy on corporate insolvency is largely reserved to the UK Government. The temporary suspension on statutory demands and restrictions on petitions to wind up companies is scheduled to expire at the end of September. The Scottish Government would support action by the UK Government to enable further transitional provisions and to extend these protections.
We remain focused on delivering the maximum support for businesses and the economy as possible. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have directly benefitted from more than £3.7bn in support – more than a third of total COVID-19 funding – £2.8bn in grants and £965m in COVID-19 non-domestic rates reliefs.
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