Tag: Scottish budget

400 Hospitality businesses & workers sign plea to Humzah Yousaf to save Scottish hospitality 

  • Over 400 hospitality businesses and workers have signed an open letter to the First Minister Humza Yousaf urging the First Minister to save Scottish hospitality. 
  • The letter to the First Minister warns that Scottish hospitality faces a crisis and without new support at the Scottish Budget, many Scottish hospitality businesses will struggle to survive.   
  • The letter comes a week before the Scottish Budget, with the Scottish Government under pressure from the hospitality sector to match support provided by the UK Government for hospitality businesses in England.  

More than 400 hospitality businesses and workers have signed an open letter to the First Minister Humza Yousaf, urging him to save Scottish hospitality. Those signing the letter include some of Scotland’s best-loved and most recognisable bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels. 

The letter comes a week before the Scottish Budget, with the Scottish Government under pressure from the hospitality industry to match support provided by the UK Government for hospitality businesses in England. At the Autumn Statement, the UK Government announced 75% business rates relief for hospitality businesses in England for the next year. 

The Scottish Hospitality Group’s Save Scottish Hospitality campaign has warned that without new support, many Scottish hospitality businesses will struggle to survive. 

The open letter to the First Minister has attracted support from the owners and employees of pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels across Scotland. The letter warns: “without support from the Scottish Government at the Scottish Budget, we will see our much-loved local hospitality venues disappear forever.” It makes an urgent plea to the First Minister to intervene and deliver fresh support for the hospitality sector at next week’s Scottish Budget. 

The Save Scottish Hospitality campaign calls on the Scottish Government to use the Scottish Budget to provide emergency support for the hospitality industry to survive, and a new long-term deal to support the sector to thrive.

The campaign calls for: 

  • an emergency 75% business rates relief to match the support that hospitality businesses in England & Wales have received over the last year; 
  • creation of a new hospitality category for business rates, which would recognise the unique challenges faced by hospitality and ensure that rates don’t cripple hospitality businesses; 
  • a new partnership between the hospitality industry and government to develop a plan to grow Scotland’s much-loved hospitality industry and address the challenges it faces. 

Stephen Montgomery, Director of the Scottish Hospitality Group, said: “This letter is an urgent plea from hospitality owners and workers from the length and breadth of Scotland.

“The First Minister must listen to those on the frontline of our hospitality sector and deliver support to save our hospitality sector before many of the venues we love disappear forever. 

“We need to back our hospitality industry to survive and thrive, and a fairer deal on business rates would be one step the Government can take in the Budget to give our hospitality industry a fighting chance. If it can be done for hospitality businesses in England, then it can be done for Scottish hospitality too”. 

“The Scottish Government claims it wants a new relationship with the business community. It’s time to put their money where their mouth is.” 

The Scottish Hospitality Group represents many of Scotland’s best-loved, family and independently-owned hospitality businesses – from bars, pubs, and cafes to restaurants and hotels.

The Group was recently relaunched with an expanded membership, in every area of Scotland and collectively employing more than 6,000 people.  

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Culture: ‘Perfect storm’ has not abated, says Holyrood committee

The ‘perfect storm’ of financial pressures facing Scotland’s culture sector “has not abated” over the last year, according to a new report from the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.

The report follows pre-budget scrutiny of the Scottish Government culture portfolio spend ahead of the Scottish Budget for 2024-25, which is expected to be announced to Parliament in December.

Last year, the Committee found that the existing budgetary challenges facing the culture sector had become “much more acute”, contributed to by a “perfect storm” of long-term budget pressures, reduced income generation, and increased operating costs.

Twelve months on from that initial warning, the Committee have concluded that “this ‘perfect storm’ has not abated, with external and public funding pressures maintaining, and the culture sector remaining under significant financial strain and the risks to its future becoming more severe.”

At the same time, the Committee recognised that the Scottish Government continues to face a “challenging fiscal environment”.

A key finding by the Committee was that there was an “urgent need” for the Scottish Government to restore the confidence of the culture sector as it continues to face significant budgetary pressures.

It therefore noted the recent commitment by the First Minister in response, to increase the Scottish Government’s investment in arts and culture by £100 million over the next five years. The Committee is now awaiting the detail of this funding commitment, with further information expected to be provided in the upcoming budget.

The Committee also found that both the initial cut to Creative Scotland’s grant-in-aid for 2023-24 in the draft Budget and, after it had been reversed, the reinstatement of that cut in the Autumn Budget Revision had “damaged an already fragile confidence” within the culture sector.

While it acknowledged that the organisations receiving regular funding from Creative Scotland would not receive a budget reduction during 2023-24 as a result of this cut, with some of Creative Scotland’s National Lottery reserves having been allocated to offset it, it sought further clarity on the extent to which the use of these reserves will have impacted the level of funding available to manage the transition to Creative Scotland’s new Multi-Year Funding Programme.

The report also considered what progress the Scottish Government had made in the last 12 months on taking forward innovative funding solutions in response to the challenges facing the culture sector, including government commitments on multi-year funding and cross-portfolio funding models.

The Committee highlighted that “very limited progress” had been made and called for “much greater urgency and a clear pathway to make tangible progress” on implementing these funding models.

Commenting on the report, Committee Convener Clare Adamson said: “The First Minister’s recent commitment to increase the Scottish Government’s investment in arts and culture by £100 million over the next five years comes as the Committee has been hearing from stakeholders across the culture sector of the significant financial challenges it continues to face.

“We heard that the ‘perfect storm’ facing the operating environment of the sector has not abated over the last 12 months, with external and public funding pressures maintaining; and that there has been very limited progress made on implementing innovative funding solutions to support the sector.

“Given this context, there was an urgent need for the Scottish Government to restore the confidence of Scotland’s culture sector.

“We look forward to receiving further details of the First Minister’s commitment to provide additional funding for arts and culture.”

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SOS: New campaign launched to save Scottish Hospitality

‘This is an SOS – we need help to make sure Scottish hospitality can survive’

  • The Scottish Hospitality Group has launched a new campaign, warning the Scottish Government that there is just five weeks to save the Scottish hospitality industry.
     
  • The campaign calls for the Scottish Government to use the Scottish Budget to provide emergency support for the hospitality industry and a new long-term deal to support the sector to thrive.
     
  • The Scottish hospitality sector has been struggling to recover from the double economic punch of COVID-19 and rising energy prices and inflation, and the campaign warns that many local venues could be lost without new support. 

The Scottish Hospitality Group has launched a new campaign to Save Our Scottish Hospitality. Launching the campaign, the Scottish Hospitality Group warns the Scottish Government that there is just five weeks to save the Scottish hospitality industry from disaster. 

The Scottish hospitality sector faces a crisis, with many businesses struggling to recover from the double economic punch of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of rising inflation and energy prices.   

This double economic punch has disproportionately hit the hospitality sector – more than any other sector of the Scottish economy. Since March 2020, over 15,000 hospitality businesses venues have shut across the UK[1].

According to the Scottish Government’s own survey[2], three in five (60%) hospitality businesses have seen production, suppliers or both affected by higher energy prices and almost half have been forced to pass these higher costs on to consumers. 

The SOS: Save Our Scottish Hospitality campaign calls on the Scottish Government to use the Scottish Budget in December to provide emergency support for the hospitality industry to survive, and a new long-term deal to support the sector to thrive.

The campaign calls for: 

  • an emergency 75% business rates relief to match the support that hospitality businesses in England & Wales have received over the last year; 
  • creation of a new hospitality category for business rates, which would recognise the unique challenges faced by hospitality and ensure that rates don’t cripple hospitality businesses; 
  • a new partnership between the hospitality industry and government to develop a plan to grow Scotland’s much-loved hospitality industry and address the challenges it faces. 

Stephen Montgomery, Director of the Scottish Hospitality Group, said: “The hospitality industry – our pubs, bars, clubs, cafes, restaurants and hotels – makes a vital contribution to Scotland’s economy and they are embedded in the heart of our communities. 

“But the hospitality industry faces a crisis and we can’t go on like this. Without government support,  there will be higher prices for consumers, a loss of jobs, and many of our best-loved hospitality businesses closing their doors forever.” 

“We need to back our hospitality industry to survive and thrive. A new, fairer deal on business rates would be one step the Government can take in the Budget to give our hospitality industry a fighting chance.

“A freeze in rates or the status quo won’t be enough. We need both emergency support and long-term reform. This is an SOS – we need help to make sure Scottish hospitality can survive”.

As part of the campaign, members of the public and politicians are asked to show their support for Scottish hospitality.

The Scottish Hospitality Group represents many of Scotland’s best-loved, family and independently-owned hospitality businesses – from bars, pubs, and cafes to restaurants and hotels.

The Group was recently relaunched with an expanded membership, in every area of Scotland and collectively employing more than 6,000 people.  

Holyrood’s Finance Committee to hear from North Coast people about Scotland’s Budget challenges

MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee will visit Largs next week (Wednesday 30 August) to hear from local people about Scotland’s Budget challenges.

The visit is part of a parliamentary inquiry into the sustainability of Scotland’s finances.

It follows the Scottish Government’s forecast that public spending in Scotland is set to outstrip income expected by £1 billion in 2024/25, rising to £1.9 billion in 2027-28.

This means the government is forecasting that it will not have sufficient money to fund the spending it currently wishes to make.

The politicians are meeting with local people, organisations and businesses to hear their views on what the Scottish Government’s priorities should be in its 2024-25 budget.

Their views will help inform the committee’s scrutiny of the government’s budget in the autumn.

Finance and Public Administration Committee Convener Kenneth Gibson MSP said: “The focus of our work this year is how the budget for 2024-25 and beyond will ensure Scotland’s finances are sustainable in both the short and longer-term.

“It is an incredibly important subject matter given the forecast budget pressures and longer-term demographic challenges in Scotland.

“Coming to Largs and talking to North Coast people – including businesses, third sector bodies and residents – will enable us to hear different views of the impact of the Scottish Government’s tax and spending decisions.

“And that matters because the budget and the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s finances will affect everyone in the country.

“I am delighted that we will also meet the following day in Seamill to discuss our committee’s work programme for the forthcoming parliamentary year.”

Participants will be asked to give views on:

  • what should the Scottish Government’s priorities be for its budget in 2024-25, given the challenges that Scotland faces next year, and in the years ahead? 

Letters: Government must reconsider proposed mental health budget cuts

Dear Editor

As a coalition of organisations that support vulnerable children and young people, many of whom have mental health problems, we share the concerns of many over a proposed £38 million cut to mental health spending in today’s final vote on the Scottish Budget (Tuesday 21st February).

It should be noted that we were already experiencing a mental health emergency in Scotland, even before Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis took hold. These have worsened an already devastating situation for many children and young people, resulting in a perfect storm of challenges.

It therefore beggars belief that, in the face of a mental health tsunami, the Scottish Government is set to cut the mental health budget. Combined with this, an already tight budget will have to stretch even further to keep pace with soaring inflation.

With the resultant personal cost to those concerned and their families, as well as to the economy overall, we need to invest more, not less, in our mental health services. The situation we are currently in could potentially lead to a lost generation of vulnerable children and young people who are missing out on the support they vitally need.

To address this, we must ensure our mental health services are protected and would urge the Scottish Government to reconsider these cuts and commit to increasing investment, ensuring that our children and young people receive the high-quality care they need when they need it.

Yours faithfully

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:

Kenny Graham, Falkland House School

Lynn Bell, LOVE Learning

Stephen McGhee, Spark of Genius

Niall Kelly, Young Foundations

4 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JE

‘Adding insult to injury’: COSLA fury over Scottish Govt interference

At a meeting in Edinburgh yesterday (Friday 27th January) Scotland’s Council Leaders expressed their extreme disappointment that the Cabinet had decided to make interventions in relation to minimum learning hours and pupil teacher ratio.

Council Leaders were clear that given the Scottish Budget for next year, there is a crisis in Local Government funding like never before and the reaction from Scottish Government so far does not reflect the crisis councils, and our communities are facing.

Council Leaders reiterated the limited options facing Local Government as a result of the Budget, now made worse by Scottish Government’s intentions around teacher numbers and the hours children spend in school.

Commenting in a joint statement COSLA Spokespeople Katie Hagmann (Resources) and Tony Buchanan (Children and Young People) said:  “This is an unnecessary and unwanted attack and intervention on our democratic mandate as elected politicians in our own right. We are seeing potentially unworkable proposals foisted on us without any prior discussion or consultation with Local Government – proposals we will be seeking legal advice on.

“We believe the teacher census information, which can only ever be a single snapshot in time, does not present the whole picture. It does not reflect that the attainment gap is moving in a positive direction or that we have recruited between August- December 620 teachers permanently and a further 400+ on either a temporary or fixed term basis.

“We have already written to Scottish Government with robust evidence of the investment that councils have been making in teaching and pupil support staff.  We’ve also highlighted the impact that the proposals will have across other council services, with cuts and job losses having to once again be taken from already hard pressed everyday essential service like roads, libraries, and waste.

“It is very disappointing that it has come to this, but we have been honest and upfront with Scottish Government throughout the Budget process. Our budget lobbying and in particular ‘Education SOS’ (attached) made clear the potential impacts on education services prior to the budget announcement, given the pressure of £1bn that exists for Local Government.

“This move will not stop councils from being forced to make reductions in the support we provide to children and young people. Local authorities will have to consider cutting pupil support staff, libraries, youth work and other vital services that support the attainment, health and wellbeing of children and young people.”

COSLA: Budget ‘barely allows local government to survive’

Following a full meeting of Council Leaders yesterday (Friday) COSLA said it cannot accept  the essential services provided by Scottish Local Government being once again overlooked by the Scottish Government in yesterday’s budget announcement.

COSLA described the budget as a bad deal for communities and warned that serious financial challenges in key service areas lay ahead for Scotland’s Councils.

Speaking this afternoon COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson Councillor Gail Macgregor said:  “My initial feeling is one of real disappointment for our communities.  Once again Local Government has been treated as the poor relation of the public sector.

“This settlement represents £100m cut to our core Settlement, before any other pressures such as National Insurance costs,  pay or inflation are taken into account.

“We wanted a Budget for Local Government that enables people to Live Well Locally – what we have is a budget that barely allows Local Government to survive.

“We are left in a position where we do not have adequate funding to provide our range of essential services and support recovery from COVID.

“Many essential services provided by Scottish Local Government are in a fairly precarious position as a result of cuts to Councils’ core budgets and direction on spend towards Scottish Government priorities over the last few years.”

Councillor Macgregor continued:  “In terms of Council Tax- whilst we welcome the removal of the cap and the recognition that this is a local tax that should be decided locally – we cannot put the burden of a poor settlement onto hard pressed families.  That is simply not fair.“

Council Leaders were unanimous today that we need to work together, with one Local Government voice, to raise our concerns at the highest level of Scottish Government.

COSLA President Councillor Alison Evison said that it was beyond frustrating that Local Government’s ambition to enable people to Live Well Locally has been totally disregarded.

Councillor Evison added:  “Whichever way you look at it, the reality of the situation is that yet again the essential services Councils deliver have been overlooked by the Scottish Government. There is no recognition that these very services are the bedrock for additional policies and priorities which the Scottish Government wants councils to provide.

“It is beyond frustrating that the importance of Local Government’s role in enabling Communities to Live Well Locally across Scotland, has not been reflected in the Budget announcement.

“The Scottish Government has to realise that cuts to our core budget hit the most vulnerable in our communities the hardest and are damaging to our workforce.  That is why Council Leaders were unanimous today that we must fight for a fairer settlement.

“The consequences of us not doing this would be disastrous for our communities and workforce.

“It adds insult to injury the fact that the NHS in Scotland has been compensated for the increase in their National Insurance costs whilst we haven’t.  So unlike Councils in England who have also been compensated for these our costs will once again have to be taken from frontline services.”

Call for Scottish budget for mental health as figures show over 1,900 children have been waiting over a year for treatment

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of children’s services, has called for a Scottish Budget for mental health. It urged greatly increased investment in mental health services against a backdrop of concerns over a mental health pandemic as the impacts of Covid-19 on the young become clearer.

The call comes as new figures published today (7th December 2021) from Public Health Scotland indicate that at the end of September 2021, 1,978 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment from specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) provided by the NHS.

This figure represents a doubling from September 2020 (959).They also represent 16.7 per cent of those waiting for specialist treatment. 

With already under-resourced and overstretched services facing overwhelming pressure due to increased demand, the SCSC has raised concerns over a potential “lost generation” of vulnerable children and young people whose mental health is being impacted by Covid-19. 

Even prior to the pandemic cases of poor mental health were at unprecedented levels and in crisis, and there are a growing number of vulnerable children who cannot access adequate support.

While 3,792 children and young people were treated over the period July to September 2021 by CAMHS, only 78.6 per cent were seen within the Scottish Government’s waiting time target for the NHS of 18 weeks from referral to treatment (met for at least 90 per cent of patients). Nine out of 14 health boards failed to meet this target.

Waiting times (with adjustments) for people who started their treatment from July to September 2021, by NHS Board of treatment.

Health boardTotal number seen% seen within 18 weeks
NHS Scotland3,79278.6
NHS Ayrshire & Arran38199.5
NHS Borders7755.8
NHS Dumfries & Galloway8133.3
NHS Fife34083.8
NHS Forth Valley8764.4
NHS Grampian39294.9
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley1,02175.5
NHS Highland17076.5
NHS Lanarkshire18368.3
NHS Lothian66167.9
NHS Tayside35284.1
NHS Island Boards47100.0

In addition to increased investment in mental health services through a Scottish Budget for mental health, the SCSC has called for a renewed focus on expanded prevention and early intervention services, reducing the need for referral to costly specialist CAMHS.

It has also called for greater partnership working between the public, private and third sectors as well as greater awareness of the services on offer, especially those at a community level.

A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “We are urging the Scottish Government to make the forthcoming budget a Budget for mental health for our children and young people.

“For some time we have raised concerns over a potential lost generation of vulnerable children and young people, whose mental health is being impacted even further by the Covid-19 pandemic.  It is more important than ever that children can access the support they need, when they need it, irrespective of where they live.

“To achieve this there must be a radical transformation of our mental health services, investing in specialist services and with a focus on preventing such problems arising in the first place and intervening early.

“This is a crisis we can overcome, but it will require a similar energy and commitment to that demonstrated for Covid-19 if we are to achieve this and prevent many young people giving up on their futures.”

Local Government services once again undervalued and underappreciated, says COSLA

The essential, everyday services provided by Scotland’s Councils – upon which we all rely – have once again been undervalued and underappreciated by Tueday’s passing of the Scottish Budget, says COSLA.

COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Gail Macgregor, said: “Our ask of Scottish Government throughout the Budget process was to give Scotland’s 32 Councils the fair funding and flexibility they deserve to be able to deliver the essential services that they provide to communities and have continued to provide throughout the COVID pandemic.  

“We are pleased that the Cabinet Secretary has listened to Local Government and agreed to baseline the £90m that was made available to councils who chose to freeze Council Tax during 2021-22.

“However, our key ask around fair funding and local flexibility has not been met with the passing of the Budget today – instead we are left with a Budget deal which does very little to address a decade of cuts to Local Government’s core funding, and once again ring fenced pots of money for specific Scottish Government policies. Without flexible additional funding to our core Budget, our ability to help recover from COVID is severely eroded.”

“The essential services that Local Government deliver are the foundations for strong communities across Scotland – today’s announcement means that these foundations will come under even more pressure.

“This is not the deal we wanted – it is not a good deal for communities and serious financial challenges lie ahead for councils. Not least in relation to our ability to recognise the amazing effort of our workforce – where Scottish Government has not recognised the pressures such as pay being faced by Councils.

“Scottish Government has raised expectations yet further through their public sector pay policy – without any increase to Local Government’s core funding, a pay increase for our workforce will have to be funded from elsewhere. This will only lead to a reduction in everyday essential services that communities rely on.”

Lib Dems ‘secure more money for Edinburgh, and mental health in the budget’

Scottish Liberal Democrats secure over £8.4 million for the City of Edinburgh

Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, and mental health spokesperson Rebecca Bell has welcomed additional funding secured by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie in this year’s Scottish budget yesterday at Holyrood.

In negotiations with the Scottish Government, the party secured an additional £1,162,488.10 for the City of Edinburgh council to provide more in-class support to children who need it by topping up the Pupil Equity Fund.

This is money paid directly to headteachers to provide additional support to pupils from less well-off backgrounds. This represents a 16% increase on the current year. 

Rebecca Bell said: “I am delighted that the Scottish Liberal Democrats have secured this extra money to help pupils across Edinburgh. Everyone deserves the best possible start in life and with this money we will provide more in-class support to children who need it.

“This funding is so vital just now, as we’ve sadly seen existing inequalities widen during the pandemic, and this financial boost will go directly towards addressing this problem.

“I am also really proud of our party pushing for an extra £120 million for mental health, this money will be spent on services in the community and I know how much these are needed. We had a mental health crisis before Covid-19 struck, and now the demand for treatment has grown rapidly, so we need to support our handworking NHS teams with proper funding.

“We have also managed to push the Government to move on the eye hospital, I am so happy to see this. I don’t want to see services moved out to Livingston, we need to go ahead with the rebuild of the Princess Alexandra as planned, it’s best for patients and best for staff.

“At the forthcoming election Scottish Liberal Democrats will put the recovery first by focusing on the issues that affect people day in, day out. If you elect me as your MSP I promise to stand up for education, jobs and mental health.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “People expect parties to work together in the middle of a pandemic. Our focus has been to put recovery first.

“We have highlighted the need for business support, an education bounce back plan, and better mental health services, given the pressure we know that the virus crisis has put on people.

“These proposals show the impact that Liberal Democrat MSPs can make, balancing important national matters with targeted local support for our constituents and putting the recovery first.

“That’s what you get with Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs.”

The Scottish Green Party had earlier pledged their support for the SNP’s budget, thus ensuring it would be passed.