Scottish Government
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Economic recovery plan

The Scottish Government will continue to focus on comprehensive action to support jobs and ensure a continued and strengthened return to growth John Swinney said today, as the Scottish Government launched a further update of its Economic Recovery Plan.

The Finance Secretary said the plan had already helped to ensure Scotland experienced a shorter and shallower recession than the rest of the UK.

But he also emphasised that today's updated plan - which includes measures that will support or safeguard another 10,000 jobs - remains vital to deliver a strong economic recovery.

The update highlights three key areas as being crucial to the Scottish Government's continued strategy for growth. These are:

  • Focusing efforts and resources on establishing an environment that is attractive to growth companies. Emphasising and enhancing the underlying strengths and opportunities of our economy will not only assist Scottish companies to grow but will also make Scotland an attractive place for international investment;
  • helping to build up the sectors of the Scottish economy which have the potential to drive future growth. For example, the Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland Europe's green energy powerhouse;
  • aligning investment towards new international growth markets. This provides important opportunities in what is an increasingly global and competitive market place.

The refreshed plan features measures recently announced, including 36 million pounds of spending, to support another 10,000 jobs and 2,000 work and training opportunities. This includes:

  • A further £10 million invested to support 5,000 new jobs in small and medium sized companies;
  • £16 million of new housing investment to safeguard some 5,200 jobs;
  • the new £10 million Community Jobs Scotland fund, that will see the Scottish Government work with the third sector to provide 2,000 work and training opportunities for young people across Scotland.

Alongside this, the Scottish Government's continued action to make Scotland an attractive place to do business and invest has seen employment increasing by over 50,000 since the three months to April 2010 - including major jobs announcements at Amazon, John Lewis, Ryanair, Mitsubishi Power Systems and Ineos.

Mr Swinney said:

"The Scottish Government has acted quickly, decisively and comprehensively to deal with the major economic challenges we have faced over recent times.

"Our economic recovery plan has helped to ensure that recession in Scotland was shorter and shallower than the rest of the UK. Scotland is also the only nation in the UK with rising employment and falling unemployment.

"There is strong evidence that growth companies are investing, expanding and creating jobs in Scotland. Amazon, Ryanair, Mitsubishi Power Systems and Ineos are just a few examples.

"The hallmark of the Scottish Economic Recovery Plan has been its flexibility to meet Scotland's needs at each stage of the economic cycle, and the way Scotland's businesses, supported by the public sector, have risen to the challenges we faced and continue to deal with.

"And that is the crucial point. Recent growth and labour market figures are encouraging, but we must continue to work hard to support the recovery we are seeing take hold across Scotland. The UK GDP figures from the last quarter of last year underline that fact.

"That is why our Economic Recovery Plan remains as crucial in the current climate as when we were in the midst of recession. Today's publication shows that across the public sector in Scotland, we are continuing to adapt to changing circumstances and we will continue to deliver the updated plan with rigour and dynamism.

"This plan indentifies three key areas for our continued growth strategy. We will focus efforts on supporting growth companies, building up growth sectors of the economy and helping Scottish companies to be successful in growth markets.

"We are focusing our resources on establishing an environment that is attractive to growth companies. Emphasising and enhancing the underlying strengths and opportunities of our economy will not only assist Scottish companies to grow but will also make Scotland an attractive place for international investment.

"We are profiling the Scottish economy towards sectors which have the potential to drive future growth. For example, we are making Scotland Europe's green energy powerhouse.

"And the Scottish Government is aligning investment towards new international growth markets. This provides important opportunities in what is an increasingly global and competitive market place. For example within the last few weeks, important agreements have been reached to support access to the vast Chinese consumer market for Scotch whisky and salmon. This is just the beginning with new and exciting opportunities likely to emerge across all sectors of our economy.

"In order for these three key strands of our strategy for growth to flourish, we require a solid skills, infrastructure and competitive base. This is why we are pressing ahead with our commitments on education and training, including a record 25,000 modern apprenticeships in 2011/12, continuing to invest in Scotland's infrastructure, such as our 2.5 billion pounds capital investment programme via the Non-Profit Distribution model, and ensuring that our business rates package remains the most competitive in the UK.

"But the huge capital cuts we face from Westminster in next year's budget - which come within an overall reduction of 1.3 billion pounds - should leave little doubt the UK Government is cutting too quickly and too deeply. That is why Scotland urgently needs full economic powers to go on creating jobs and put this country on the path of long term growth and success."

Related Information

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story