The economy, again and geothermal heating

Economic debate

The Government's economic strategy was debated in the Parliament last week with most of the emphasis on austerity and corporation tax. The government stated it wished to borrow to invest in the economy by removing the public sector spending cuts.  The opposition commented that there had been a reversal on commitments to lower corporation tax but this was denied.

In his opening address John Swinney, the Finance Minster, said he wanted "to foster a culture of innovation and research and development to promote the development of new technologies, products and working methods."
 
On corporation tax he stated that he wished to reduce it but not across the board. In particular he stated:

We have set out our approach to reduce corporation tax in a targeted way to support investment in capital, which is entirely consistent with the remainder of our economic strategy.

During the debate it was stated that the detail of the economic strategy was still to be announced, hence there is time to influence government as we head into the general election.

Geothermal fund launched

The Scottish government announced plans to increase the use of geothermal energy via a challenge fund for feasibility studies for projects involving local communities. The plans are in response to a recommendation of the Geothermal Energy Expert Group. The deadline to apply is 30 April and the government is running workshops to help organisations through the process.