(S5O-04725) Covid-19 (Welfare Funding)

5. Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government what welfare funding is being made available to support people facing financial hardship as a result of Covid-19. (S5O-04725)

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People (Shirley-Anne Somerville): We have provided a £350 million funding package to ensure support for people and communities that are most in need. We have significantly increased the Scottish welfare fund and we have targeted help with housing costs, including through increasing our discretionary housing payment fund and introducing a tenant hardship fund.

In recognition of the additional pressures that unpaid carers have been under, we made an additional carer’s allowance supplement payment in June, which means that over the financial year, eligible carers can get £690 more than carers in the rest of the United Kingdom.

In addition, we have introduced the £500 self-isolation support grant for workers on low-income benefits who risk losing income because they have to self-isolate.

Stewart Stevenson: The cabinet secretary referred to the United Kingdom Government’s universal credit uplift—but, of course, that ends in April. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the hardship of families who are affected by its ending should lead to a pile on the doorstep of the Westminster Government for it to deal with, while the Scottish Government does what it can to help struggling families?

Shirley-Anne Somerville: I completely agree with Stewart Stevenson’s assessment. As I said in my earlier remarks, we have urged the United Kingdom Government to make that £20 uplift permanent and, which is important, to extend it to legacy benefits. That was needed before the pandemic and is, certainly, needed more urgently now. We need an immediate announcement, so that people do not face uncertainty about whether that vital money will be removed from them in a few months.

Modelling by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicates that failure to make the uplift permanent will result in 700,000 more people across the UK being pushed into poverty, so the UK Government must do the right thing and ensure that social security support is sufficient to support people during and beyond the pandemic.

(S5O-04565) Fishing Industry (Wind Farms)

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): Given that the fish processing industry is the biggest sector by turnover and by employment, what assurances have the Scottish Government had from the United Kingdom Government that the ability of that industry to continue to export to its major markets in the European Union and beyond will be preserved in the event of the no-deal that we see looming in a week’s time?

The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment (Mairi Gougeon): I absolutely share the member’s serious concerns about that issue, particularly in relation to the processing sector. The Brexiteers put fishing front and centre in their campaign, insisting that leaving the EU would mean boom time for our fishing fleets. We have to look out for our processing sector as well as our fishers and look at what no deal means for it.

We are constantly working to try to get those assurances from the UK Government, but as yet we have not received them. As the member said, the clock is ticking. We need to have those assurances because we want to protect the sector in Scotland. It is a sector that the Scottish Government is standing up for and will continue to stand up for in the negotiations.

Statement: Logan Review (Technology Sector)

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): I welcome the suggestion, on page 39 of the report, of “self-organised tech” meet-up points giving “free meeting space and resources”.

That is clearly part of an across-Scotland approach to creating hubs for entrepreneurs. Can the cabinet secretary advise how many jobs might be created directly from the creation of hubs across Scotland? I am thinking particularly of those that might come out of the back end of the funnel that the Logan report refers to, which are permanent, international-standard jobs that we can keep for generations.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance (Kate Forbes): The potential for job creation is enormous. We aim to support between 300 and 500 companies through the tech scalers programme, providing world-class training and mentoring for entrepreneurs in the hope that their businesses go on to grow, develop and employ more people. The initial aspiration would be for approximately 50 jobs, knowing that that is a very immediate start and that the number can only grow.