Scottish Secretary comments on September 2021 GDP figures
As the latest monthly Scottish GDP figures are published, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack says the UK Government remains focused on sustained recovery.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:
Economic activity levels in Scotland and the UK more widely are moving in the right direction but there is much more to be done as we recover from the pandemic.
That’s why we are levelling up right across the UK. The announcement of £41 billion per year for the Scottish Government in the Autumn budget is delivering the largest annual funding settlement, in real terms, since devolution. Plus, we’re investing more than £190million in projects in communities throughout Scotland from three major new funds.
People are getting back to work with the help of our Plan For Jobs and the Universal Credit taper rate cut will benefit hard-working families everywhere. All this comes on top of the UK Government’s unprecedented package of support which has seen an additional £14.5billion funding provided to the Scottish Government through the pandemic.
We remain focussed on a sustained recovery.
Background:
- At their peak, the UK Government’s furlough and self-employed schemes were supporting nearly a million Scottish jobs, a third of the workforce.
- More than 100,000 Scottish businesses have benefited from £4billion of UK Government loans.
- The UK Government provided billions in extra funding for the welfare system for those unable to access other forms of support and the more recent Universal Credit taper rate cut will benefit working families across the UK.
- The UK Government is investing billions to help people back to work through the 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.
- More than £190m is going straight to communities in Scotland through our new Community Ownership, Community Renewal and Levelling Up Funds.
- The UK Government is providing the bulk of UK Covid testing and Covid testing in Scotland outside of the NHS.