The Chancellor today set out the next steps in the UK Government’s strategy to secure Scotland’s economic recovery from coronavirus – announcing a “Plan for Jobs” to level up, spread opportunity and unite the UK.

Rishi Sunak outlined how he would focus on protecting, supporting and creating jobs as the UK enters the next phase in its recovery following the outbreak.

Delivering his Summer Economic Update, he said:

Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs. It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire. To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.

As part of a series of landmark measures the Chancellor announced that the government will:

• support jobs with the Job Retention Bonus to help businesses keep furloughed workers. UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021.
• expand Worksearch Support including a Flexible Support Fund and a £2 billion Kickstart scheme to subsidise jobs for young people
• create jobs in the construction and housing sectors through funding to decarbonise public sector buildings, a demonstrator project to decarbonise social housing and funding to support research and development for Direct Air Capture (as announced by the PM on 30 June)
• protect jobs with VAT cuts for hospitality and tourism, as well as a Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme.

The Summer Economic Update confirms an additional £800 million of Covid-19 funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula.

The UK Government is now providing £4.6 billion through the Barnett formula to help the Scottish Government support individuals, businesses and public services through Covid-19.

Rishi Sunak said the plan for jobs was the second phase of a three-phase plan to secure the UK’s economic recovery from coronavirus.

The first phase, beginning in March, focused on protection with a £160 billion package of support – one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world. In Scotland this package has so far protected more than 620,000 jobs, helped thousands of businesses and paid £425 million to 146,000 self-employed people.

The Chancellor outlined that following the second phase focusing on jobs, there would come a third phase focusing on rebuilding, with a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn.

Speaking about the impact for Scotland, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

Since this crisis started, our wide-ranging package of support for Scotland has protected more than 620,000 jobs, thousands of businesses and paid £425 million to self-employed people.

Today I’ve set out our plan to protect, create and support jobs across Scotland – to level up opportunity, safely reopen our economy and strengthen the Union.

With a massive funding boost for Jobcentre Plus, doubling the number of work coaches, more people will now benefit from personalised and tailored job support. We’re investing £800m through the Barnett formula, giving Scotland the funds to create green news jobs. And we’re protecting the thousands of existing jobs in the hospitality sector with a cut to VAT and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

The measures announced by the Chancellor to support the country’s post-coronavirus economic recovery delivers for all parts of the UK.

The UK Government’s ambitious plan for jobs, with its strong emphasis on our young people, is great news for young Scots.

The VAT cut for tourism and hospitality will be a huge boost for Scotland. It is now absolutely essential that Scotland’s world-class tourism and hospitality industry can properly open for business.

The stamp duty cut gives a helping hand to the housing market and building trades in England. I urge the devolved administration to use their powers to do the same in Scotland.

And, thanks to UK Government spending decisions in the rest of the UK, Holyrood will get a £800 million cash boost, bringing their total additional coronavirus support funding to £4.6 billion.

The Chancellor has set out a fantastic package of support. The devolved administration now need to play its part and show they are serious about Scotland’s economic recovery.

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Kyle is a Senior Lawyer in the Government Legal Department (GLD). Here he discusses his training contract and work within the Commercial Law Group:

“Following the completion of the Legal Practice Course, and a brief stint as a paralegal at a personal injury law firm, I took a paid position at a Citizen Advice Bureau for a couple of years. This cemented my desire to pursue a career path which offered a range of interesting and diverse work, in an organisation which was not driven solely by profit, but also committed to furthering the public good. The Government Legal Department appeared to be a perfect fit and I secured a training contract in 2015.

Throughout my training I was given the opportunity to work on a number of high profile matters including:

• the Medical Innovation Bill
• amending  guidance on the law relating to abortion
• working on appeals against the application of the spare room subsidy (informally known as ‘the bedroom tax’) by benefit claimants. This included appeals that were taken to the Supreme Court

My last seat was in the Commercial Law Group (CLGp), advising the Department of Health and Social Care. I enjoyed the work so much that I joined the team upon qualification/when I qualified in 2015.

Whilst some of the work of CLGp is no doubt similar to that undertaken by private commercial law firms, in my experience, the interplay with public  law issues and the unique position of central government, means that GLD is involved in some of the most novel and interesting commercial law work in the sector.

In particular, the constant balancing of vital commercial issues, such as achieving value for money for the taxpayer and ensuring unbroken continuity of vital public services, means the work remains fresh and challenging.

During my time in the team I was closely involved in:

• the introduction of a new state-backed scheme to cover NHS GPs for incidents of clinical negligence and defending a judicial review to the scheme
• the rapid introduction of a replacement contractor to deal with a hundred of tonnes of clinical waste generated by over 40 hospital trusts
• the development of a multi-million pound grant scheme to combat antimicrobial resistance, by increasing data gathering capacity in low and middle income countries
• the protection of vital intellectual property including the blue NHS lozenge and letters
• grant funding, to help prepare for the UK’s exit from the European Union

Work on such matters has involved traditional commercial work, such as the drafting of contracts, intellectual property licences and non-disclosure agreements, as well as specific public sector advice on procurement law and State Aid.

CLGp has proven to be an environment in which I could thrive, and in late 2019, I was promoted and began working for the Government Digital Service, which is tasked with leading digital transformation to help the government work better for everyone.

One of the great things about GLD, which sets it apart from private practice, is that having a breadth of experience is really valued and you are actively encouraged to move into different areas of law. Over the last few months I have greatly improved my knowledge of data protection and tech law and I continue to look forward to the challenges ahead.

The Chancellor today set out the next steps in the UK Government’s strategy to secure Wales’ economic recovery from coronavirus – announcing a “Plan for Jobs” to level up, spread opportunity and unite the UK.

Rishi Sunak outlined how he would focus on protecting, supporting and creating jobs as the UK enters the next phase in its recovery following the outbreak.

Delivering his summer economic update, he said:

Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs. It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire. To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.

As part of a series of landmark measures, the Chancellor announced that the government will:

• support jobs with the Job Retention Bonus to help businesses keep furloughed workers. UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021.
• expand Worksearch Support including a Flexible Support Fund and a £2 billion Kickstart scheme to subsidise jobs for young people
• create jobs in the construction and housing sectors through funding to decarbonise public sector buildings, a demonstrator project to decarbonise social housing and funding to support research and development for Direct Air Capture (as announced by the PM on 30 June) and modernisations to courts and prisons and prison and probation estate improvement,
• and protect jobs with VAT cuts for hospitality and tourism, as well as a Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme.

The Summer Economic Update confirms an additional £500 million of Covid-19 funding for the Welsh Government through the Barnett formula.

The UK Government is now providing £2.8 billion through the Barnett formula to help the Welsh Government support individuals, businesses and public services through Covid-19.

Rishi Sunak said the plan for jobs was the second phase of a three-phase plan to secure the UK’s economic recovery from coronavirus.

The first phase, beginning in March, focused on protection with a £160bn package of support – one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world. In Wales this package has so far protected more than 316,000 jobs, helped thousands of businesses and paid £273 million to more than 100,000 self-employed people.

The Chancellor outlined that following the second phase focusing on jobs, there would come a third phase focusing on rebuilding, with a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn.

Speaking about the impact for Wales, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

Throughout this crisis we’ve supported hundreds of thousands of people in Wales, putting in place one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world.

Today I’ve set out the next steps in our plan to secure our recovery. It will protect, support and create jobs in every part of Wales – levelling-up opportunity and strengthening the Union.

We are supporting jobs throughout Wales with a massive investment in our Jobcentre offer, including doubling the number of work coaches. We’re creating green new jobs with decarbonisation projects, modernisations to courts and prisons and £500m allocated through the Barnett formula. And we’re protecting existing jobs by cutting VAT and introducing the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, providing a welcome boost to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said:

The Chancellor’s package of measures delivers for Wales and will rebuild and refocus our economy as we bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

Our priority remains firmly on levelling up the nations and regions of the UK, safeguarding people’s livelihoods and delivering prosperity. The opportunities we are creating and the new routes into employment are great news for young people in Wales, while VAT cut for tourism and hospitality will be a huge boost for that sector. It is now absolutely essential that Wales’ world-class tourism and hospitality industry can properly open for business.

This has been an exceptionally challenging time for everyone in the UK. We have supported Wales throughout, and our decisions will mean the devolved government will also receive an extra £500m bringing their additional Covid-19 support funding to £2.8 billion.

The Chancellor has set out a fantastic package of support paving the way to Wales’ economic recovery.