By Jesse Norman

It has been wonderful to see the innovation and versatility of Scottish businesses. Distilleries such as Badachro, Oro and Loch Lomond have produced essential hand sanitiser for Scottish hospitals and care homes. Restaurants such as Ondine in Edinburgh and the Cathedral House Hotel in Glasgow have offered fine dining to people at home and NHS staff alike.

Meanwhile, for the businesses who haven’t been able to keep their doors open the UK Government has stepped up the level of support available. Our job retention scheme has supported more than eight million jobs across the UK and over a million businesses. Our Self-Employed Income Support Scheme has seen 2.3 million individual claims, worth £6.8 billion, and this all comes in addition to tens of billions of pounds worth of tax cuts, tax deferrals and discounted loans.

Over the coming weeks and months the UK will reopen, and as we enter this next chapter and kick start our economy, we will continue to protect and support Scottish jobs and businesses.

That is why, as the Chancellor announced earlier this month, we have extended the job retention scheme until the end of October, so that overall it will have supported businesses for eight months. Scottish furloughed workers will continue to receive 80% of their wages, up to £2,500 a month – there will be no change in the overall support they receive.

Of course there will be concerns regarding the reopening of the economy. People may be worried about returning to work, shopping again and reopening their doors to customers. To address these concerns it is vital to keep people safe. Businesses will have to prepare and become Covid-secure. The restart of our economy will be gradual, careful and measured.

We know that not all businesses will be able to open their doors at the same time. That is why we have extended the furlough scheme, making it both as flexible and as generous as possible.

From July 1, local businesses will have complete control to decide on the arrangements they need to get their workers back in action. This flexibility should mean that businesses can gradually reopen in accordance with local needs and circumstances, while making sure that jobs are protected. If there are local or regional needs for renewed caution, the furlough scheme has the scope to meet them. It will allow businesses to open at their own pace, while protecting their workers.

Businesses will need time to make these adjustments. That is why the UK Government has decided to ask employers to pay only a modest contribution, introduced slowly over the coming months. In June and July, the scheme will continue as before, with no employer contribution at all. In August, the taxpayer contribution to people’s wages will stay at 80%. Employers will only be asked to pay National Insurance and employer pension contribution, which on average accounts for just 5% of total employment costs.

By September, employers will have had several months to plan their workplaces and business practices. Only then, in the final two months of this eight-month scheme, will we ask employers to start paying towards people’s wages, again in a graduated way.

No less important is the support we are providing to self-employed people in Scotland through the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. We want to continue to provide self-employed people with the financial security they need to see them through to the other side of this pandemic.

This is why the UK Government has extended this scheme as well.The self-employed will be able to receive a second grant worth up to £6,570, and this second scheme will be open in August for applications.

Over the next few months the UK Government will develop new measures to manage our economy, back business, and help our people thrive again. Emerging from lockdown successfully will not be easy. It will demand passion, versatility and real entrepreneurship from us all.

But just as the UK Government has stood behind Scotland from the start of this crisis, so it will continue to stand behind Scotland as we gradually come out the other side.

Jesse Norman, Tory MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, is Financial Secretary to the Treasury