“I am sure that most, if not all, of my Councillor colleagues will have been contacted by business people at their wits end because they are falling through the gaps in Scotland's Covid financial support system. The initial Covid support structures were put in place in a hurry so that money could get out to support businesses and jobs, and there have been tweaks to the systems over the months. However, there are still significant numbers of businesses that are getting either no support or totally inadequate support. Without some prompt action these businesses will fail, taking with them the jobs and livelihoods of all involved.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines which the UK has already committed to and are now starting to come on stream. But for many businesses, such as coach operators, restaurants, and hotels - in fact any business that normally has people close to one another, it will be many months if not years of trying to keep going with hugely reduced capacity.
We need to ensure that the fabric of our society remains intact during the Covid crisis so that jobs and livelihoods can be saved.
Last week the Fraser of Allander Institute estimated that the Scottish government is still sitting on-around £1billion of Covid support money from the UK Government, which would indicate that it has the wherewithal to provide further help.
So my question is could you tell us what opportunities is the Council taking in its dealings with the Scottish government to highlight the harm being done to jobs and livelihoods by the failings of the current Covid business support system, and how can the Council encourage the Scottish government to undertake a full review of the support system to ensure that money is being directed to where it is needed both now and into the future?”