Douglas Chapman
Main Page: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)Department Debates - View all Douglas Chapman's debates with the HM Treasury
Oral Answers to Questions
Douglas Chapman Excerpts(4 years, 1 month ago)
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Allan Dorans (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)
What fiscal support he is providing to mitigate the economic effects of the covid-19 outbreak. [907767]
Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife) (SNP)
What fiscal support he is providing to mitigate the economic effects of the covid-19 outbreak. [907769]
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jesse Norman)
The Government have provided an unprecedented package of support for people, businesses and public services throughout the UK, totalling more than £200 billion. That has included helping to pay the wages of 9.6 million people through the job retention scheme and protecting the livelihoods of 2.6 million self-employed workers through the self-employment income support scheme.
Jesse Norman
As the hon. Gentleman will know, the current state of affairs was agreed between the Scottish Government and the UK Government after exhaustive consultation and discussion by the Silk commission, and that remains the set-up to which the Scottish Government have committed themselves.
Douglas Chapman [V]
With the dual viruses of Brexit and covid-19, we are heading for a winter of discontent and a longer period of mass unemployment. With no Budget announcement, what are the Chancellor’s economic advisers telling him about the Government’s preparations for mass unemployment and the sectors that will be worst hit?
Jesse Norman
The Chancellor has been very clear that because we are in the midst of a pandemic, we are likely to see, and we are indeed already seeing, some redundancies. There is no doubt about the seriousness of the financial and economic situation that we are in. I remind the hon. Gentleman with regard to Scotland that there has been some £7 billion of support for the Scottish Government in dealing with the pandemic and its economic effects, over and above the £21.3 billion provided through the regular Barnett process.