Chamber and committees

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.

Ministers have considered a number of scenarios not just on business support grants but also on wider measures including non-domestic rates reliefs and other targeted forms of business support such as the Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund.

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 do not even exist in England.

The Scottish Government has been in frequent and intensive contact with leaders in the fishing industry in order to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on their sectors and to discuss what support the Scottish Government can offer them. The most recent round of funding provided to businesses operating vessels over 12 metres finalises the relief we can offer to the sea fishing sectors. Together these funds act as a temporary support measure to offer immediate hardship payments to businesses that cannot access the UK business grant scheme for land based operators and to take them to a point thereafter where they should begin to be in receipt of the self-employed payments, expected in June.

The Scottish Government has provided £22.5m in immediate hardship payments to the seafood industry. These funds act as a temporary support measure to offer immediate hardship payments to businesses that cannot access the UK business grant scheme for land based operators and to take them to a point thereafter where they should begin to be in receipt of the self-employed payments expected in June.

The financial support consists of:

• Up to £3.5m to the over-12m shellfish sector;
• Up to £6m to the under-12m shellfish sector;
• Up to £3m to trout and shellfish aquaculture; and
• Up to £10m to the onshore fish processing sector.

Though creel and inshore boats are predominantly under-12m vessels there are a number of over-12m vessels which fish for shellfish in the inshore. The offshore fishing sector is primarily, although not exclusively, made up of vessels fishing for whitefish or pelagic species. Unlike the shellfish sector which has seen near total market collapse, this part of the sector continues to operate, although at reduced levels, and is not in immediate need of hardship funding. The whitefish and pelagic sectors will also be able to access these self-employed payments from June.

This forms part of our total package for businesses which now totals £2.3bn – £43 million more than the consequentials we received from the UK Government.

Details of the support available for all businesses, including seafood businesses, can be found at the Find Business Support website, which is frequently updated with the latest information. I encourage all businesses to review this regularly and to consider what support may be available to them.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of properties eligible for Rural Rate Relief.

As at 31 May 2019 there were 390 non-domestic properties in receipt of Mandatory Rural Rate Relief and a further 1,880 in receipt of Discretionary Rural Rate Relief in Scotland. Comparing to the latest population estimates for the adult population in Scotland (as at June 2019) this is 0.9 and 4.2 properties for every 10,000 adults respectively.

As at 31 December 2019 there were 3,222 non-domestic properties in receipt of the Mandatory Rural Rate Relief and a further 4,373 in receipt of Discretionary Rural Rate Reliefs in England. Comparing to the latest population estimates for the adult population in England (as at June 2019) this is 0.7 and 1.0 properties for every 10,000 adults respectively.

There is no comparable data available for Wales and Northern Ireland, as the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive publish relief expenditure, but not the numbers of relief recipients, and hence no comparable UK data.

There are various ways that the business base can be broken down by size, for example in terms of the number of employees in the business, the turnover of the business, the rateable value of non-domestic properties, etc. There are two main sources of statistics on Scotland’s business population in terms of business size according to the number of employees in the business – the Scottish Government’s Businesses in Scotland publication and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) UK Business Population Estimates publication. More information from these publications are shown below. However, there are other ways to compare the business base in Scotland and England - for example in terms of the rateable value of non-domestic properties. Comparing the 1 April 2020 Scottish non-domestic valuation roll and the 18 March 2020 English non-domestic valuation roll shows that 77% of properties on the Scottish non-domestic valuation roll had a rateable value of £15,000 or less, this compares to 71% of properties on the English non-domestic valuation roll.

With regard to statistics on the business population in terms of business size according to the number of employees in the business - the Scottish Government Businesses in Scotland publication includes this size breakdown and this is for all businesses operating in Scotland. Whereas, the BEIS UK Business Population Estimates publication allocates businesses to Scotland only where the business is based (has its UK registered office) in Scotland.

Table 1 provides a breakdown of all private sector businesses in Scotland by business size – sourced from the Scottish Government’s Businesses in Scotland 2019 publication. Whereas Table 2 provides a summary of data from the BEIS UK Business Population Estimates 2019 – where businesses are allocated to Scotland only where the business is based (has its UK registered office) in Scotland. These summary tables provide key statistics, to show the different approaches to defining Scotland’s business population, but more detailed information can be obtained from the links below:

The latest Scottish Government Businesses in Scotland publication is available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/businesses-in-scotland-2019/

The latest BEIS UK Business Population Estimates publication is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2019

The BEIS publication provides data for Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the UK as a whole.

Table 1: Private sector businesses in Scotland, by business size – all businesses operating in Scotland

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of properties eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

As at 31 May 2019 there were 120,420 non-domestic properties in receipt of Small Business Bonus Scheme relief in Scotland. Comparing to the latest population estimates for the adult population in Scotland (as at June 2019) this is 272 properties for every 10,000 adults.

As at 31 December 2019 there were 750,836 non-domestic properties in receipt of the Small Business Rates relief scheme in England. Comparing to the latest population estimates for the adult population in England (as at June 2019) this is 170 properties for every 10,000 adults.

There is no comparable data available for Wales and Northern Ireland, as the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive publish relief expenditure, but not the numbers of relief recipients, and hence no comparable UK data.

There are various ways that the business base can be broken down by size, for example in terms of the number of employees in the business, the turnover of the business, the rateable value of non-domestic properties, etc. There are two main sources of statistics on Scotland’s business population in terms of business size according to the number of employees in the business – the Scottish Government’s Businesses in Scotland publication and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) UK Business Population Estimates publication. More information from these publications are shown below. However, there are other ways to compare the business base in Scotland and England - for example in terms of the rateable value of non-domestic properties. Comparing the 1 April 2020 Scottish non-domestic valuation roll and the 18 March 2020 English non-domestic valuation roll shows that 77% of properties on the Scottish non-domestic valuation roll had a rateable value of £15,000 or less, this compares to 71% of properties on the English non-domestic valuation roll.

With regard to statistics on the business population in terms of business size according to the number of employees in the business - the Scottish Government Businesses in Scotland publication includes this size breakdown and this is for all businesses operating in Scotland. Whereas, the BEIS UK Business Population Estimates publication allocates businesses to Scotland only where the business is based (has its UK registered office) in Scotland.

Table 1 provides a breakdown of all private sector jobs in Scotland by business size – sourced from the Scottish Government’s Businesses in Scotland 2019 publication. Whereas Table 2 provides a summary of data from the BEIS UK Business Population Estimates 2019 – where jobs (UK-wide) are allocated to Scotland only where the business is based (has its UK registered office) in Scotland. These summary tables provide key statistics, to show the different approaches to defining Scotland’s business population, but more detailed information can be obtained from the following links:

The latest Scottish Government Businesses in Scotland publication is available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/businesses-in-scotland-2019/

The latest BEIS UK Business Population Estimates publication is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2019

The BEIS publication provides data for Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the UK as a whole.

Table 1: Private sector jobs in Scotland, by business size – all businesses operating in Scotland

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28357 on 12 May 2020. 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 .

COVID-19 is the biggest challenge we have faced in our lifetimes and the measures we take to deal with it must reflect its magnitude.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the creative sector and is committed to doing everything we can to ensure our world-class culture can continue to thrive.

That is why we have taken decisive steps to address the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on those working in the creative sector.

As part of the regular contact we have with creative sector leaders I led roundtable discussions with them in early April to understand the impacts and to consider possible solutions, including funding for Creative Scotland.

Our primary focus is to support the organisations we fund and other funders in order to keep funding flowing to individuals and organisations to enable them to sustain themselves through the immediate short-term impacts, while also keeping the medium to longer term recovery in view.

We continue to work hard and quickly to understand the different impacts on the various parts of the sectors as they become clear and we will use this information to identify new measures where we find that there are significant gaps in existing support provision.

We have moved quickly to introduce a range of schemes and measures to support businesses across the economy and welcome the initiatives being introduced by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government’s total business support package now totals £2.3 billion.

Creative Scotland is providing an expected total budget of £14 million of support in response to the COVID-19 situation. The Scottish Government will continue to work urgently with Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland to use existing and new funds to support the sector, including the Third Sector Resilience Fund for Scotland-based charities, social enterprises or voluntary organisations, or organisations delivering community services and activities.

The £14 million fund is available to support those – including freelance creative practitioners – whose work in the arts, screen and creative industries has been affected by the measures introduced to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes £1.1 million of repurposed grant in aid and a further £1 million to top up Creative Scotland’s Bridging Bursaries in the not-for-profit sector from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds.

I have also announced that from the 30 th April the newly self-employed suffering hardship, and small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in distress, can apply for help from a £100 million package of additional grant support.

This includes a £20 million Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund, managed by the Enterprise Agencies with support from Creative Scotland and VisitScotland for small and micro creative, tourism and hospitality companies not in receipt of business rates relief to access grants of up to £25K.

This funding is intended to relieve the hardship of individuals and smaller firms that are ineligible for support from the UK Government or are not in receipt yet of the funds they need to survive. Our hospitality, tourism and creative sectors have been decimated by this crisis and previously profitable businesses have seen demand dry up overnight.

However, because of the decisions the Scottish Government has taken, thousands more self-employed people and small businesses will be able to benefit from support compared with elsewhere, and we have been able to help sectors of the economy that are not being supported in other parts of the UK.

Details of support for businesses are available at the Find Business Support website which is available at the following link: https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot . This is frequently updated with the latest information.

Fuller information about the broader support for the creative sector beyond that of Creative Scotland is set out in my letter to the Convener of the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee of 24 April which is available at the following link: https://www.parliament.scot/S5_European/General%20Documents/20200424_CabSecEFWCToConvener.pdf.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28510 on 4 May 2020. 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 .