Making Scotland's future - a recovery plan for manufacturing: fairer Scotland duty assessment

Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment – Making Scotland's Future: A Recovery Plan for Manufacturing

Title of Policy, Strategy, Programme etc

Making Scotland's Future: A Recovery Plan For Manufacturing

Summary of aims and expected outcomes of strategy, proposal, programme or policy

Like many parts of the Scottish economy, manufacturing has been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a public health crisis has become a global economic crisis – growth has stalled, businesses have had to close and there have been many job losses with the likelihood of more to come.

Scottish manufacturing is a key source of business research and development, and of high-quality employment. Pre-COVID-19 figures show the sector was worth £12.5 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) – approximately 13% of total GVA – and employed approximately 170,000 people, many in highly-skilled jobs.

Making Scotland's Future – A Recovery Plan For Manufacturing has been developed by the Making Scotland's Future Programme Board and partners, which comprises of representatives from both public and private sector, and includes a range of specialists from industry, academia, and trade unions.

In line with the report of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, which recommended that bespoke sector recovery plans are put in place, the Recovery Plan proposes a series of actions for the partnership of public agencies, industry and academia to take forward by the end of 2021. They are designed to secure a strong, sustainable future for the manufacturing sector across four inter-dependent priority areas:

• Collaboration and networks
• Supply chains and competitiveness
• Adaptation and transformation
• Skills and workforce

These actions have been designed to guide the manufacturing sector through its recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the sector as it adapts to a changing world.

The proposed actions will help Scottish manufacturing to adapt to future global trends such as digitisation and the ongoing transition to net zero. They will shape manufacturing into a successful, vibrant, forward looking sector with Fair Work principles embedded throughout. They will drive innovation, protect and create jobs and help to place Scottish manufacturing at the heart of a global green recovery.