Scottish Secretary Alister Jack responds to November 2021 GDP

26 Jan 2022 08:29 PM

Our priority is achieving sustained recovery and urging people to get their boosters, says Secretary of State.

Figures for Scotland’s GDP for November 2021 were yesterday published here.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack yesterday said:

It’s encouraging to see Scotland’s economy growing again, as we start to build back from the pandemic.

The UK Government is continuing to support people and businesses in all parts of the UK to help ensure a strong recovery. 

In addition, we are investing in communities right across Scotland, including through £191 million in direct UK Government grants and £1.5 billion being invested in Scottish Growth Deals. And the UK Government’s multi-billion pound Plan for Jobs is working, with more people in jobs than before the pandemic.

Our Levelling Up White paper, to be published shortly, will set out how we will ensure all parts of the UK thrive and prosper.

Background 

• We are directly investing £191 million UK Government funds in Scotland through the Community Renewal Fund, Community Ownership Fund and Levelling Up Fund, and £1.5 billion in City Deals in all parts of Scotland.
• The UK Government’s furlough and self-employed schemes closed at the end of September 2021 after 19 months. At their peak, these two schemes supported more than 910,000 Scottish jobs alone. More than 100,000 Scottish businesses have benefitted from £4 billion of UK Government Covid loans. 
• The UK Government is investing billions to help people of all ages back into work, including our £2 billion Kickstart scheme for young people, sector-based work programmes and recruitment of thousands of additional work coaches. Young people can now sign up for Kickstart until the end of March 2022. 
• For the next three years [from 22/23] the Scottish Government will receive record funding through the block grant to £41 billion per year.
• The Scottish Government will receive an extra £6.5 billion of Barnett-based funding in 21/22, to help support services and businesses. In addition, in December 2021, we announced a forecast of a further £440 million in Barnett consequentials in 2021/22. This gives the Scottish Government the certainty they have requested to spend more money in advance of the usual process for confirming final Barnett consequentials at Supplementary Estimates. 
• The UK Government is funding the hugely successful UK-wide vaccine programme, and continues to provide all Covid testing in Scotland outside of the NHS.