The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has welcomed an announcement by Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy Kate Forbes that an additional £10m is to be made available to support the food and drink wholesale sector as it recovers from the pandemic.
This is on top of the £5m dedicated funding for wholesale announced by the Scottish Government last December as part of the £8m supply chain funding from its £100m Omicron business support package.
It is expected that a new round of the Scottish Food and Drink Wholesale Resilience Fund will go live tomorrow. This will be similar to the first fund launched in December 2020 when the SWA first secured £5m for the sector.
Colin Smith, SWA Chief Executive, stated that the additional support for wholesale comes as a direct result of the association’s dialogue with the Scottish Government to ensure that wholesalers affected by the pandemic get the financial support they need.
“Wholesalers haven’t received the same benefits as many other businesses such as rates relief or strategic framework grants over the past year,” he said.
“The SWA highlighted this anomaly and the real hardship faced by many wholesalers to the Scottish Government. So this latest, dedicated funding recognises the key role that wholesalers play in the food and drink supply chain, including the supply into schools and hospitals.”
He added, “We’re delighted that the Finance Secretary has accepted our calls for further support … Our members are slowly recovering from the latest variant but there is still a long way to go.”
NAM Implications:
- Surely a pointer for all wholesaling in Scotland…
- …and for the rest of Britain.
- (Note the degree of dialogue with government to secure this result…)
- And important for suppliers to lend support for what has become an increasingly vital link with indies.
