Supporting Jobs and Communities
The Scottish Government is supporting both those in work and those seeking to get into work. This requires action to help both individuals and communities. One important move has been the decision to accelerate nearly £350 million of capital spending into both 2008-09 and 2009-10 to maintain key skills in the Scottish economy, support around 6,350 jobs and provide the modern infrastructure essential for longer-term Scottish economic growth.
We are also supporting jobs through, for example:
- Investing in affordable housing with accelerated spending of £120 million as part of the record £675 million Affordable Housing Investment Programme. This accelerated spending will help create over 1,000 jobs directly.
- Reducing the tax burden on businesses and households. The expansion of the Small Business Bonus Scheme will save the average small business owner £1,400. Households are being helped with the extension of the council tax freeze this year, saving Scottish households £420 million over three years.
- Accelerating improvements to the planning process to help the right developments go forward more quickly. This includes the launch of a new online planning system, ePlanning, which will make Scotland's planning system simpler, faster and more accessible.
- Directly investing in communities through a £60 million Town Centre Regeneration Fund which will help local agencies to regenerate and grow their town centres. Communities will also be helped through accelerated spending from the European Structural Funds, the Scottish Rural Development Programme and the European Fisheries Fund.
- Making communities more energy efficient with a £30 million investment as part of a pilot initiative to help 90,000 homes with home insulation.
- Increasing financial advice for individuals with an extra £3 million to the Scottish Legal Aid Board to improve access to legal advice and representation on matters related to the economic downturn. £1.1 million has also been given to Citizens Advice Scotland to increase the availability of face-to-face advice on debt, welfare rights, housing and employment issues which should help around 22,000 new clients.