Covid-19 (Business Support)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 17 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Independent

Much of the very welcome financial support that the Scottish Government has announced is being channelled through local authorities. Yesterday, I was contacted by a business in my constituency that applied for grant support on 24 March but has not, to date, received a determination on its application. It was advised by the local authority that the team that is dealing with the applications is very small and is, as we might have anticipated, being overwhelmed by the number of applications that are being made.

Is the cabinet secretary aware of that issue? Has it been brought up in discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities? Are there plans to look at potential redeployments and secondments in order to increase capacity and to have determinations made on applications more quickly, so that businesses can get that much-needed support?

Photo of Aileen Campbell Aileen Campbell Scottish National Party

I am glad that my colleague Kate Forbes is online and will hear this, because I know that she has been working incredibly hard with local authorities to ensure that support for businesses gets to those that require it. We know that local authorities are working incredibly hard to ensure that the support gets out the door in a reasonable timeframe. Of course, there are lots of checks that they have to do in doing that.

If we can get the details of the companies that have not had their payments, we can use that as we continue to engage with COSLA and with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, in order that we can pinpoint where there might be issues around capacity. We can explore that with our local authority partners and ensure that where there is a need to enhance capacity, that can be provided, so that local authorities can get the money to those who need it as quickly as possible.

Both local government and national Government share the desire to ensure that the money gets to those who need it as quickly as possible, and I know that local authorities are working incredibly hard to do that. Of course, there will be some bumps along the way, but we do not want that to prolong the agony of businesses that need help as quickly as possible.

If Mark McDonald wants to share details with me, I can endeavour to make sure that those conversations are happening with COSLA in a strategic way, so that we can pinpoint geographically where there might be a need for a bit more capacity, and so that we can think about how we might address that.