Following the First Minister’s Coronavirus update to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon Aberdeen Inspired welcome the reduction of the self-isolation period for people who test positive for Covid in Scotland if they have no fever and record two negative lateral flow tests. The change comes into effect from midnight will bring Scotland in line with the rest of the UK.
In addition, the £55m support package announced today will specifically be targeted and split in the following way:
- £28m allocated to taxi and private hire sectors
- £19m allocated to the beauty and hairdressing sector
- £5m allocated to sport and leisure
- £3m allocated to tourism sectors
This additional funding is welcomed and it is essential that the bodies responsible for administering the allocation of funds, the Scottish Government, Event Scotland, Creative Scotland and Aberdeen City Council direct the funding with care, speed and precision needed so that the anxiety and hardship being faced by local businesses can be in some way alleviated by ensuring that funding reaches business bank accounts as quickly as possible.
Commenting on the announcement Adrian Watson Chief Executive said
“Whilst we welcome the additional financial support, it is essential the sums involved are distributed in quick time to our qualifying businesses, with cognisance taken of a need for further and wider financial support for many of our city centre businesses that have been badly affected through Covid.
We welcome the positive step in reducing the self-isolation period which will help businesses to continue to operate through the challenging weeks to come. We also hope that there will soon be a date set for a managed return to the office which will undoubtedly help the businesses in the city centre with their recovery from this pandemic.”
It is likely that all other restrictions will remain in place until 17 January 2022, including restrictions on large scale live events.
On 3 January Culture Secretary Angus Robertson provided details of how the £65 million financial package for culture and major events would be split as follows:
- £31.5 million for cultural businesses, organisations, venues and independent cinema support and grassroots venues
- £2 million for National Performing Companies (for Christmas losses and touring fund re-purposing)
- £10 million for Freelancers
- £19.8 million to the Events sector
- £1.7 million to Museums, galleries and heritage
Creative Scotland’s Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers opens for applications tomorrow (Thursday 6 January 2022) at 2pm.
On the balance of the Cultural and Events funding EventScotland is currently working with the Scottish Government and the Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG) to determine the best way of distributing the funding to ensure support goes to those in need across the sector, and details on this will be shared shortly.