Opinion: Healing can only be fully achieved when businesses are finally allowed to trade
*Originally published in the Courier and the Press & Journal.
Dr Liz Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Chambers of Commerce
Budgets are like buses, two tend to come along very close together. Although this year the Scottish budget bus came first which has caused some uncertainty for businesses as the Finance Minister Kate Forbes awaits what might be delivered by her counterpart at Westminster in March.
What the Scottish Budget did deliver was at best a mixed bag. While some announcements were welcome it was our view they did not go nearly as far enough to avoid risk of widespread business collapse and job losses.
For one, there was a small win for businesses who pay business rates. While the Cabinet Secretary listened to us and delivered a reduction in the Non-Domestic Rate (NDR) poundage rate, vital rates reliefs have only been extended for three months which is too short a reprieve.
While we understand that short extension is a holding measure until the UK Budget, businesses need a commitment to at least a 12-month reliefs package to provide the certainty that they so desperately need. In the long-term, we still believe the rates system is unfair and needs significant reform.
Issues such as this are important because it is a resilient and robust private sector which will deliver a strong economic rebound once coronavirus restrictions ease. However, every day businesses are failing with the loss of jobs and livelihoods. Businesses and governments know that funding support – however welcome – are just a sticking plaster. But like with any serious wound, they are still required in order so the economy can eventually heal.
Healing can only be fully achieved when businesses are finally allowed to trade. But while we can’t, the Scottish Chamber Network will continue to call for an economic route map on how we will exit this crisis aligned with the roll out of the vaccine programme. This is a critical component if businesses are to unleash the investment our country so desperately needs.
I will address what we hope to see from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s upcoming budget. But first, let’s take a look at one of the main areas the Scottish Government can focus on to support the efforts of businesses to “build back better”, which is skills and training.
Economic recovery will be reliant on a joined-up approach to employment and training support schemes to ensure that Scotland’s workforce is not severely depleted when current support such as the furlough scheme eventually tapers off.
In the Scottish budget, Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes confirmed an initial additional investment of £125 million for the Young Person’s Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund. She also confirmed more detail on the proposed £100m Green Jobs Fund and an allocation of £230.9 million to Skills Development Scotland (SDS).
Alongside these announcements, SDS launched its Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan. This focused on both shorter and longer-term measures that coloured in some much-needed detail on how businesses will help government achieve net-zero targets as we emerge from the Covid-19 nightmare.
The establishment by SDS of a Green Jobs Workforce Academy was one of our key asks. It is aimed at supporting both existing employees and those who are facing redundancy, to assess their existing skills and undertake the upskilling and reskilling they need to secure green jobs opportunities as they emerge.
SDS’s plan will also maximise the uptake of apprenticeships in green jobs and develop new work-based learning pathways.
It has become clear the lockdown has been unduly cruel to young people, having caused havoc with schooling as well as shutting down many entry-level jobs in customer-facing industries.
Businesses and the Scottish Chamber Network have been working closely with SDS and the Scottish Government in planning for 2021 and beyond with focus on how the apprenticeship system can be used to integrate young people into jobs and careers.
With Scottish Apprenticeships Week coming up in the first week of March, apprenticeships have never been more important to providing our young people the opportunities they deserve. The theme for this year’s campaign is Business Backing Talent, showcasing how businesses benefit when they back talent through apprenticeships.
Apprentices are at the heart of how businesses will rebuild and invest in our future workforce. Our work with SDS will continue to focus on how Scotland’s skills system can respond rapidly to changing marketplace demands.
As for next month’s UK budget, the Chancellor has within his grasp the potential to deliver support that ensures jobs and businesses can survive and grow until the vaccine allows us to trade in an open economy. We have been very clear that now is not the time to withdraw that support ahead of lifting of restrictions. There will be time to address the national finances. But in order to achieve this, the economy must be in the best position possible to spring back – the stronger the better for our jobs, our livelihoods and our future place in the world as a trading nation.
