Scotland
Budget 2010 announces further action the Government will be taking in Scotland, including:
Families
- To increase the support available to families with young children and to continue to drive progress in tackling child poverty, from April 2012 the Child Tax Credit for each child aged 1 and 2 will be increased by £4 per week. Around 65,000 families in Scotland are expected to benefit.
- To encourage people to save for the future, the first Saving Gateway accounts will be available in July 2010, offering people the chance to receive 50p from the Government for each £1 they save. 750,000 people in Scotland are expected to benefit.
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Additional payments alongside the Winter Fuel Payment will be repeated in 2011. Payments will be worth £100 for households with someone aged 80 or over and £50 for households with someone over female State Pension Age. 770,000 households in Scotland will benefit, of which 160,000 contain someone aged 80 or over.
- On 11 March the Chancellor launched Moneymadeclear nationally, providing free impartial information and guidance on personal finance issues online and over the phone in Scotland. The service has been piloted in the North East and North West since last April and the Government and the FSA have together committed £20m for the service in 2011 enabling it to help one million people by March 2011.
- Continued support to homeowners by freezing the interest rate used to calculate Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) payments at 6.08% for a further 6 months, until December 2010. Based on the most recent available regional data, the number expected to benefit in Scotland is 22,500.
Business
- HMRC will continue to offer the Business Payment Support Service allowing viable businesses in temporary financial difficulty to spread their tax payments over an agreed timetable. 18,400 arrangements have been reached through this Time to Pay scheme with businesses in Scotland to allow them more time to pay their tax.
- In January the Government announced a measure that will support the development of remote deep water gas fields in the area to the West of the Shetland Islands. This measure will benefit the UK offshore oil and gas industry, which is based in Aberdeen and which employs a substantial number of people in Scotland.
- £60 million for infrastructure development, to meet the needs of offshore wind turbine manufacturers looking to locate new facilities in the UK. The wind energy industry employs around 8,000 people in Scotland.
These schemes build upon actions and investments that are already being undertaken in Scotland to support businesses and families, including:
Families
- All 18-24 year olds who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for 6 months or more now have access to the Young Person's Guarantee, providing a guaranteed job, work experience or training. It is estimated that 40,940 people in Scotland are benefiting. And from next month, participation will be mandatory.
- Around 610,000 families and 1,024,000 children are benefiting from the January 2009 increase in Child Benefit.
- Alongside this year’s Winter Fuel Payment, households with someone aged over 80 have received an additional payment worth £100, and households with someone aged over 60 have received an additional £50. Around 750,000 households in Scotland have benefited, including 160,000 households containing someone aged 80 or over.
Business
- Over 18,300 agreements, worth nearly £310m, made through the Business Payment Support Service have enabled businesses in the region to spread their tax payments over a timetable they can afford.
- The Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme enables up to £1.3bn of bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK, the scheme has, to date, meant that nearly £75.4m of eligible applications from 597 firms in Scotland have been granted, are being processed, or assessed.
Investment
- The Scottish Executive will benefit from DEL increases of £82million as a consequence of increased spending by UK Departments. In addition Scotland will benefit from increased spending in reserved areas such as employment measures and support for mortgages.
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