WIREDGOV

The Scottish Government Infrastructure Investment plan – which delivers housing, hospitals, schools and transport infrastructure projects – is set to see a further £1 billion worth of investment.

The extra investment has been possible by extending the Scottish Government’s Non-Profit Distributing funding method.

Every £100 million of construction activity is estimated to support over 1,300 jobs. Investment in infrastructure has supported 40,000 jobs across Scotland over the past year.

Finance Secretary John Swinney made the announcement alongside the allocation of UK Budget Barnett consequentials for Scotland. These funding allocations include:

• An extra £31 million capital funding over the next two years for local government to further develop the capital infrastructure needed to increase early learning and childcare provision. This will bring the total capital investment to £91 million.

• An extra £12 million resource funding to local government in 2015-16 to further fund the provision of free school meals for P1 – P3 pupils, with proportionate additional funding available in 2014-15 to reflect the implementation of the commitment from January 2015.

• An extra £10 million of support for Help to Buy (Scotland) in 2014-15 which will bringing our overall investment to £235 million over three years.

• A further £12 million this year to further enhance our extensive existing measures to support youth employment, such as Modern Apprenticeships and enhanced vocational pathways.

• £2 million over two years to provide further support for those affected by the UK Government’s programme of welfare reform.

Speaking during a statement to parliament Mr Swinney said:

“Whenever there has been an opportunity to further invest in our economy, this Government has taken it. That is why I am pleased to announce today a number of measures that will boost our economy, create jobs, support skills development and strengthen Scotland’s infrastructure.

“We will develop plans to extend our current programme of NPD with an additional £1 billion investment taking us through to 2019 - 20.

“This investment will build on the successes of the current programme, delivering colleges, schools, roads, hospitals and community health facilities across Scotland. It will also provide the construction sector with the long term certainty of a future pipeline of work.

“We know that every additional £100 million of construction activity is estimated to support over 1300 jobs. And then we get the long term benefits of using the asset. 

“Further investment in Help to Buy benefits the construction sector, wider economy and plays an important role in supporting aspiring home owners throughout Scotland.

“As the First Minister announced in January, we will further expand early learning and childcare to more of our most vulnerable two year olds. This will benefit the children and also open up employment opportunities for their families by removing childcare as a barrier to work. To ensure we have the physical capacity to meet our commitment to expand childcare, I have decided to allocate all the capital consequentials from the UK Budget to local government.

“We have already made clear we will allocate funding required to meet a full year cost of £42 million to local authorities arising from the expansion of free school meal eligibility. Recent discussions with COSLA have persuaded me to allocate a further £12 million resource to local government on a full year basis to replace the elements of subsidy that local authorities apply to provision of paid for school meals across Scotland.

“This Government will continue to argue that Scotland deserves better. We deserve real control over our finances and our people deserve the right to take their own decisions about the economy, taxation, public spending and public services.

“This package will support jobs, skills development and children and families, adding to the decisive steps this Government is already taking to help Scotland’s economic recovery and build for the future.”