Chamber and committees

The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund (NSEHF) provides support to people who became self-employed since 6 April 2019 and who were therefore not eligible for the UK Government Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. The fund provides support to people in hardship through a one-off, flat-rate £2,000 grant.

All successful applicants have been and will be awarded the full amount of £2,000.

Local Authorities are responsible for assessing claims and paying grants and the fund remains open to new applications. Data are still being collected from across the 32 Local Authorities and I shall write to you next week when we will have a better picture of the data and be able to provide up-to-date figures on the number and percentage of successful applications

The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) provides grants for businesses which:

• support Scotland’s productive capacity,
• are of local or national economic importance,
• impact the wider business community,
• are a supplier or potential supplier to NHS or other COVID-19 vital services,
• are a supplier to other essential businesses, or
• demonstrate a need to rapidly scale up or diversify due to COVID-19.

Due to significant demand we doubled the PERF to £90m and have further increased it to £120m. The fund closed to new applications on 18 May.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

The Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF) provides support for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies who have experienced at least 50% loss of current or projected revenue as a result of COVID-19 and are experiencing hardship. Due to significant demand we have increased the fund from £20m to £30m. The fund is administered by our enterprise agencies, which are currently progressing applications. The fund closed to new applications on 18 May.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) provides grants for businesses which:

• support Scotland’s productive capacity,
• are of local or national economic importance,
• impact the wider business community,
• are a supplier or potential supplier to NHS or other COVID-19 vital services,
• are a supplier to other essential businesses, or
• demonstrate a need to rapidly scale up or diversify due to COVID-19.

Due to significant demand we doubled the PERF to £90m and have further increased it to £120m. The fund closed to new applications on 18 May.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) provides grants for businesses which:

• support Scotland’s productive capacity,
• are of local or national economic importance,
• impact the wider business community,
• are a supplier or potential supplier to NHS or other COVID-19 vital services,
• are a supplier to other essential businesses, or
• demonstrate a need to rapidly scale up or diversify due to COVID-19.

Due to significant demand we doubled the PERF to £90m and have further increased it to £120m. The fund closed to new applications on 18 May.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

The Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF) provides support for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies who have experienced at least 50% loss of current or projected revenue as a result of COVID-19 and are experiencing hardship. Due to significant demand we have increased the fund from £20m to £30m. The fund is administered by our enterprise agencies, which are currently progressing applications. The fund closed to new applications on 18 May.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

Police Scotland are publishing weekly updates on the use of coronavirus legislation, including Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued and other intervention activity. A summary of this information has been provided below. This information is drawn from Police Scotland’s ‘Coronavirus Interventions’ application, which relies on manual input from Police Officers. Due to this manual input, these figures are indicative only and should not be considered Official Police Statistics. This system currently provides the broadest picture of the differing levels of co-operation experienced by Police across Scotland.

In due course and as standard practice, the Official Statistics produced by the Scottish Government on Recorded Crime [1] and Criminal Proceedings [2] will ultimately provide users with information on both the number of crimes recorded in relation to the new powers, and the number of FPNs issued. Further updates on developments with our Official Statistics can be received by signing up to the SCOTSTAT network [3] .

(a) Warning with no fine

Between 1 April 2020 and 30 April 2020, a total of 16,608 individuals were dispersed by Police Scotland without any enforcement action being taken. This includes those dispersed when informed, those dispersed but only when instructed, and those dispersed using reasonable force. Individuals may have been dispersed more than once during this period. The majority of interactions between the police and the public are resolved without enforcement.

(b) ‘On-the-spot’ fine

Between 1 April 2020 and 30 April 2020, a total of 1,829 FPNs were issued by Police Scotland and 122 arrests were made. FPNs would not be considered ‘On-the-spot’ fines as payment is not required on-the-spot. Individuals may have been issued an FPN or arrested more than once during this period. Police Scotland have stated that “the powers being afforded to our officers will be used as a last resort and only where people are defying very clear and sensible advice which is designed to protect them from harm” [4] .

For the breakdown of these figures by police division see Table 1

Table 1: Coronavirus Legislation Intervention Activity by Police division, April 2020

The Scottish Government has no plans to extend 100% grant funding to additional properties eligible for business support grants, but estimates that the cost of doing so would be around £33 million.

On 5 May the Scottish Government commenced Phase 2 of the Business Grants Funding Scheme. This included the expansion of support for ratepayers with more than one property. In addition to a 100% grant on their first eligible property, ratepayers with additional qualifying properties will be eligible to apply for a 75% grant on each additional property. This has made available Small Business Grants of £7,500 and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants of £18,750 on any additional qualifying properties that a ratepayer may have, subject to compliance with EU State Aid Rules.

We estimate that there are around 11,000 business properties eligible for a 75% Small Business or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant. As at 12 May 2020, nearly 1,000 business properties have claimed an additional grant.

England and Wales have introduced two different grants systems designed to suit their specific local circumstances.

The Scottish Government has committed that the UK Government’s Barnett consequential funding for business support to Scotland would be passed on to businesses. Ministers have also been clear that they would not simply replicate the decisions taken by the other governments but they would take the right decisions for the Scottish economy whilst being mindful of delivering value for money.

In a number of areas Ministers have sought to balance the needs of the broader economy with those of the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors and have introduced a number of policies which are either more generous than their UK equivalents or are unavailable in England. At the same time, the Scottish Government does not agree with some of the policies introduced by the UK Government and believes they offer poor value for money to the taxpayer. For example, the UK Government’s grant schemes may have made significant sums of money accessible to second home owners registered as self-catering accommodation.

Whilst we have not estimated the costs of replicating the system in Wales, following the Chancellor’s announcement to introduce business support grants on 17 March 2020, the Scottish Government estimated that the cost of replicating the business support package in England would be between £2.3 and 2.5 billion. This compared to £2.23 billion of Barnett consequentials.