Chamber and committees

The package of support for businesses now totals £2.3 billion, which is more than the consequentials we received from the UK Government.

The total cost of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme is £275 million - this includes £30 million to extend the support and provide grants of £18,750 to any additional qualifying Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties that a ratepayer may have.

Following my announcement of Phase 2 of the Business Grants Funding Scheme on 15 April, there is no fixed limit on the number of eligible multiple properties that a business can claim grant support for under either the £10,000 or £25,000 business support grant schemes. The expansion of the scheme will open for applications from 5 May.

As set out in the guidance supporting (a) the Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund and (b) the Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund, awards from these funds will be published as part of Creative Scotland’s monthly listings, published every month, one month in arrears, on their website at the following link: https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/latest-information/awards-listings .

(a) Creative Scotland allocated £4 million to the Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary (Arts and Creative) Fund.

(b) Creative Scotland has allocated £1.5m to the Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund to support practitioners impacted by COVID-19.

As of 21 April the Scottish Government has allocated £1.1 million of repurposed grant in aid and a further £1 million to Creative Scotland in financial support relating to COVID-19.

Decisions on allocations of COVID-19 consequential funding are ongoing. Scottish Ministers plan to publish a Summer Budget Revision by the end of May for consideration by the Scottish Parliament prior before summer recess. The Budget Revision will detail all funding allocations made to date in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Scottish Government has been allocated an estimated £3,520m of Barnett consequentials in relation to COVID-19. A breakdown of this funding is shown in the following table:

The Scottish Government has always been clear that full fiscal responsibility would provide Scotland with greater flexibility and opportunities to encourage sustainable economic growth, increase tax receipts, and invest in public services. Where the Scottish Parliament’s powers fall short of full fiscal responsibility, the Scottish Government believes that the Barnett formula should continue to underpin the Scottish Government’s block grant but that there could be exceptional cases where other approaches are appropriate.

In the current situation the Barnett formula has been used to provide as much early clarity as possible on the consequential implications of UK Government funding announcements in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. This reflects the need for urgent planning across the UK in response to Covid-19, some of which involves using cost estimates that may be subject to change as the health, economic and other impacts of the outbreak continue to evolve. The Scottish Government will make representations for additional funding for the response in Scotland where it considers there is an identifiable need to do so.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28389 on 29 April 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28389 on 29 April 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 .