Fiona Hyslop

Publishing responses to the advisory group on economic recovery report and the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board report, economy secretary Fiona Hyslop outlined key actions to generate significant economic growth, combined with a focus on supporting jobs, skills and training.

These initial measures include:

• Investing at least £50 million to support Youth Employment, including the Scottish Job Guarantee
• Embedding Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeship places as part of our wider college and university provision, as well as extending Fair Start Scotland services
• Introducing a Transition Training Fund to support individuals facing redundancy and unemployment in those sectors most exposed to a downturn providing opportunities to upskill and transition into employment
• Maximising help for those facing redundancy through the Scottish Government’s PACE support programme
• Making it easier for SMEs to compete for public sector contracts and supporting them to make greater use of digital technology
• Exploring options to alleviate planning restraints, build capacity and deal more quickly with complex applications
• Invite leaders from business and other organisations to work with senior civil servants to ensure key Scottish Government policies maximise opportunities for economic benefit

Fiona Hyslop, economy secretary, said: “We all acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing Scotland’s economy as result of COVID-19, but we also recognise this is an opportunity to do things differently and crucially to rebuild a stronger, fairer and greener economic future. The Scottish Government’s focus will be on protecting jobs, creating jobs, ensuring quality jobs and supporting skilled jobs. We are working quickly to achieve this and many of the actions outlined today are already well underway.

“No one should be left behind and our work to prioritise those hardest hit by this pandemic is clear through our commitment of at least £50m for youth employment and the Scottish Job Guarantee, as well as our dedicated Transition Training Fund which will provide opportunities to upskill and transition into employment.”

She added: “We are also focused on generating significant economic growth through further action to support our small and medium-sized businesses, proposals to alleviate planning restraints and our commitment to continue working closely with business leaders to ensure we are doing all we can.

“Ultimately, the best way to secure our recovery from the economic challenges of COVID-19 is to eliminate the virus. That is why it is so important that we continue to invest in Test and Protect, and why all of us must continue to follow the guidelines - particularly around social distancing and hand hygiene.”

• Read all of our articles relating to COVID-19 here.