3. To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available for newly self-employed people who have not been able to access other forms of support during the Covid-19 pandemic. (S5O-04867)

I am very aware of the concern about those who have had difficulty in accessing financial support, particularly the newly self-employed. That is a group for whom the financial challenges are particularly acute because of the fact that they are excluded from support through the United Kingdom Government’s self-employment income support scheme.

In recognition of that, we acted swiftly to support the newly self-employed back in April by introducing the newly self-employed hardship fund, which provided £2,000 grants to more than 5,500 people. In response to the on-going disruption caused by the Covid-19 restrictions, we have also committed to providing an additional £15 million to run a second round of the newly self-employed hardship fund, which will build on the first iteration of the fund by providing further £2,000 grants. We are working closely with local authorities to deliver the second round of the fund, and further details will be made available in the coming days.

I very much welcome the additional discretionary funding that has been put in place.

Because of the UK Government’s actions, which the cabinet secretary mentioned, some constituents who have contacted me—they include taxi drivers—have had next to no financial support since the pandemic started. When does the Government expect that people will be able to apply for and access the discretionary funding? Can the cabinet secretary clarify whether taxi drivers will be able to apply for that funding or whether they will have access only to the separate funding stream?

Originally, the discretionary fund that has been made available to local authorities was seen as a possible source of funding for taxi drivers. Since then, we have identified an additional £19 million specifically for taxi and private hire vehicle drivers. That fund will be available in January. The focus of the local authorities fund is specifically on those who have had no additional financial support. Some taxi drivers will have been able to benefit from either the furlough scheme, if they are employed, or the self-employed scheme. However, we are very cognisant of the fixed-cost issues that taxi drivers face, and that is why additional funding of £19 million has been identified to support them.