Analysis of how Covid-19 business support funding was distributed during the pandemic is not possible due to gaps in data, according to a new report from Audit Scotland.
The Scottish Government provided about £4.4bn of grants and non-domestic rate reliefs between March 2020 and October 2021, mostly paid out to businesses by councils. It then announced a further £375m of support in December 2021, following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Steps were taken to improve the management of funding during the pandemic, but there was not enough focus on gathering detailed data on how money was distributed and how quickly applicants received funding.
