Alister Jack responds to August 2020 Scottish GDP figures

Commenting on the publication of Scottish August GDP figures, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

The UK Government is doing everything possible to keep people safe and protect the Scottish economy from the shock of the pandemic.

We will continue to support jobs and businesses in Scotland through the difficult months ahead. We have expanded our Job Support Scheme, extended our scheme for self-employed people and provided additional support for business.

This direct support to people in Scotland is on top of an £7.2 billion in additional funding to the Scottish Government.

Background:

• From 1 November firms will continue to benefit from a range of support under the UK Government’s new Job Support Scheme. This will support businesses facing lower demand over the winter due to Covid, as well as those being asked to close temporarily to help stop the spread of the virus.

• The UK Government is investing billions to help people back to work, including through our £2 billion Kickstart scheme to get young people into jobs. Extra help from work coaches in Jobcentres is helping unemployed people of all ages back into work by focusing on skills.

• From January, our £9 billion Job Retention Bonus will help employers keep workers in their jobs.

• More than 76,000 businesses in Scotland have benefitted from UK Government loan schemes, worth more than £9.4 billion.

• Scotland’s hospitality and tourism businesses are benefitting from a VAT cut which will now run till March 2021.

• In total, the Scottish Government has been allocated an additional £7.2 billion from the UK Government since March 2020. This is on top of the block grant and in addition to direct UK Government support to people and businesses in Scotland.