Coronavirus (COVID-19) business support: equality impact assessments

Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund

Name of Grant:

Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund

Policy Lead

Steven Scott

Legal power used:

Sections 4 and 6 of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911, Section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 and section 37 of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007 to make grant payments.

Grant Overview:

The fund was targeted initially at all seafood processors and seafood businesses including those involved in exporting live seafood and shellfish and, in doing so, undertake associated husbandry.

The purpose of the intervention was to provide support to businesses that were encountering severe hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The intervention was to support the fixed costs of operating the business. Our support covered costs for a 3 month period.

The specific support was provided through grants. The maximum level of grant varied depending on the business and the application, with the absolute maximum available being £100k.

The maximum level of grant available for businesses with average annual earnings over a 3-year period up to £1.5 million could not exceed 4% of those earnings. The maximum level of grant for businesses with average annual earnings over a 3-year period over £1.5 million could not exceed 3% of those earnings, up to a maximum level of grant of £100k. The quantum of grant provided was to cover the actual fixed costs encountered by the business.

Executive Summary:

The impact of Covid-19 on the food and drink sector was severe. The seafood sector was particularly impacted given its reliance on exports and the collapse of the domestic food service market resulting in many seafood processors encountering severe hardship. Some of the measures announced by the UK Government, particularly those to support employment, helped the seafood sector to some extent but were not sufficient to support the future viability of many businesses, many of which are critical to the economic sustainability of our coastal and rural communities. The Scottish Government has therefore established a Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund with support available up to £10 million in line with the new state aid flexibility, to support those businesses that were suffering severe hardship.

The Scottish Seafood Business Resilience fund had to be set up at pace and within this context of needing to react quickly there is limited opportunity to gather evidence on the possible impacts of these measures.

Nevertheless in developing these funds it is considered that protected characteristics were unlikely to be affected. The immediate priority was to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic and help all Scottish seafood processors that were encountering severe hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic survive.

We are also mindful that the equality duty is not just about negating or mitigating negative impacts, we also have a positive duty to promote equality. We have sought to do this through support and guidance available. For example we made available support and advice from Seafood Scotland for any business requiring assistance in completing the application.

Key Findings - impact assessment of benefits and/or disadvantages.

Age: Older People and Children and Young People

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Sex: Men and Women

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Race

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Disability

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Religion and Belief

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Sexual Orientation

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Pregnancy and maternity

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Gender reassignment

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Marriage or Civil Partnership

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Socio-economic disadvantage: any people experiencing poverty

Data was not available to assess the impact / specific characteristic is not likely to be affected

Stakeholder Engagement:

The Scottish Government received a number of representations from the Scottish Seafood Association, Seafood Scotland as well as individual seafood processors. This also involved a number of one-to-one discussions with Ministers and officials. These representations outlined that there were a number of seafood processing businesses who had been operating well prior to the Covid-19 situation, but were now facing severe hardship as a result of lost sales due to Covid-19 restrictions on UK hospitality and retail markets and international markets.

The information provided made it clear that if emergency funding for the sector wasn’t put in place immediately, then some of these businesses would not survive.

We have engaged extensively with the Seafood Scotland, Scotland Food and Drink and Marine Scotland during the pandemic on the fund guidance and application forms with a view to getting a suitable fund set up as quickly and effectively as possible under the circumstances.

Mitigations -

No adverse impacts identified on groups with protected characteristics.

Support was made available to anyone needing advice in completing the application form.

Next Steps (if any)

Declaration and Publication

I have read the Equality Impact Assessment and I am satisfied that it represents a fair and reasonable view of the expected equality impact of the measures implemented.

Signed: George Burgess.

Date: December 2021