Today, I brought to Parliament a budget for Scotland\u2019s economy, designed to deliver growth and jobs.<\/p>\n
UK GDP has now fallen for three consecutive quarters, driven by a sharp fall in the construction sector \u2013 economic data which reinforces the cast the Scottish Government continues to make, that we require a different strategy from the UK Government and that capital investment is needed to provide an immediate short-term stimulus.<\/p>\n
Global economic conditions continue to impact on economic confidence. Business investment remains considerably below pre-recession levels, and household income remains under pressure.<\/p>\n
I am therefore focussed on enhancing confidence in order to encourage private sector investment and growth.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why today I made a number of spending announcements to support our immediate priorities of boosting capital investment, taking direct action to tackle unemployment, and continuing to enhance confidence by encouraging private sector investment.<\/p>\n
I have announced further capital investment in affordable housing of more than \u00a340 million over this Autumn and 2013-14, and increased the number of schools being built throughScotland\u2019s Schools for the Future programme, which will help construction firms all overScotland.<\/p>\n
I have announced a total of \u00a330 million of funding over this year and 2013-14 for a programme of energy efficiency measures to tackle fuel poverty, contribute to meeting our climate change targets and provide opportunities for small and medium sized construction firms.<\/p>\n
Our continued No Compulsory Redundancy policy for public sector staff, combined with a modest 1 per cent pay rise, will help to boost economic confidence and support jobs and activity across the economy.<\/p>\n
I have allocated resources to support the creation of skills for a diverse Scottish Energy Economy in oil and gas, renewables, thermal generation and carbon capture and storage.<\/p>\n
And we will assist in the creation of 10,000 jobs for young people in the private sector.<\/p>\n
The Draft Budget I published today honours this Government\u2019s commitments to the people of Scotland and, within tight parameters, provides for additional measures to support economic recovery.<\/p>\n
I understand that this is a challenging time for many businesses. But in today\u2019s budget I confirmed, once again, that this Government will do all it can to focus our resources on driving forward Scotland\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Global economic conditions continue to impact on economic confidence. Business investment remains considerably below pre-recession levels, and household income remains under pressure. I am therefore focussed on enhancing confidence in order to encourage private sector investment and growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[263,261,262,260],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget","tag-capital-investment","tag-construction-sector","tag-fuel-poverty","tag-uk-gdp"],"yoast_head":"\n