By stewartb

Each and every working day at 1600 hours, the Scottish Government sends out an e-mail headed ‘Daily news update’. This collates all press releases issued that day, presumably in part as an aid to journalists. You will often find one or more of the day’s topics referred to here on TuS. But by BBC Scotland or the wider mainstream media in Scotland? Not so much!  Is amplifying positive news from the present Scottish Government too much of a threat to Unionist politicians?

Whilst the nature of BBC journalism in Scotland is well known to readers of this blog, every now and then an illustrative example of contrasting news values arises that is so stark that it’s hard to refrain from comment.

UK government initiative – BBC Scotland amplifies £60k start-up company support

On October 1, the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) issued a press statement: ‘Local tech ready for take-off as 14 projects supporting businesses and jobs unveiled – Communities set to benefit from better jobs and more opportunities in tech as 14 government-backed projects to support local tech sectors across the UK are unveiled’.

The announcement refers to a ‘£1 million Regional Tech Booster programme’ to support entrepreneurs and their innovative tech start-up businesses. As indicated in a previous TuS blog post, the announcement includes support for two projects in Scotland.

• ScotlandIS’ Future Ready In Scotland aims to ‘break down the barriers that often prevent tech founders in rural or remote communities from accessing opportunities typically available in more urban or connected areas’
• Dundee-based Game Space’s ‘Levelling-Up Scottish Games Startups for Global Success’ aimstodeliver ‘a bespoke support programme for early-stage Scottish games startups, going beyond traditional accelerators by focusing on community building, peer learning, ethical strategy, and sustainable business growth’. (my emphasis)

On the same day as the DSIT’s press release, the Scottish Business section of the BBC News website published a substantive article under this headline: ‘Tech projects to receive share of government fund’. (It’s still fairly prominently displayed in the Scottish Business section on October 3, PM.)

We also learn this from the BBC: ‘It is understood the two Scottish projects will each receive £30,000, and DSIT told the BBC the money will support at least 30 businesses in Scotland.’ To be ‘fair’, the DSIT press release actually implies each project will support at least 30 tech businesses, and over a 6-month period.

To get a sense of significance of the initiative BBC Scotland opted to report, by my calculation £60k between at least 60 businesses in Scotland amounts to support worth no more than £1k per business, and for half a year. Excellent news: like me, you’re no doubt delighted BBC Scotland has found time and space to showcase this generous UK government support for Scotland!

Scottish Government initiative – BBC Scotland ignores £2.95m start-up support

On October 2, the Scottish Government announced an additional £2.95 million to support 18 university-derived science and technology innovations become commercial(part of its Proof of Concept Fund – see https://www.gov.scot/news/funding-awarded-for-innovation-projects/ ).

The projects receiving support include one from Dundee involving ‘gamification’ and AI technology: ‘LayawayGo’ will receive financial support from the Scottish Government, not worth £1,000 but £122,000. I wonder if we’ll see this – or better still, the whole funding package of £2.95 million – appearing on the Scottish Business section of the BBC News website soon? Anyone spot news coverage of this Scottish Government, anywhere?

OK, some may argue – who wants to read more about academics and their start-up company aspirations? Perhaps it’s not just about the scale of funding: BBC Scotland was attracted to cover the DSIT’s press release by the focus of the initiative on the worthy aim of ‘communities benefiting from better jobs and opportunities’. Let’s delve further then.

Scottish Government initiative – BBC Scotland ignores £1.1m community support

On September 30, 2025 the Scottish Government announced this on its website: ‘Breaking down barriers to business: £1.1 million to tackle under-representation in entrepreneurism’. (https://www.gov.scot/news/breaking-down-barriers-to-business/ )

The press statement has this: ’Projects are being rolled out across the country to help more women and people from under-represented groups start their own businesses. Fourteen organisations will share more than £1 million of funding from the Scottish Government’s Pathways Pre-Start Fund to deliver a range of initiatives providing practical support ranging from workshops to care vouchers. The latest grants form part of a total £6 million Scottish Government investment in 2025-26 to expand the range of people running their own business and help make Scotland one of the most entrepreneur-friendly locations places in Europe.’

It’s worth giving short descriptions of the projects being funded by the Scottish Government and then to ponder: why is the community-related opportunity and employment focus of this Scottish Government initiative not deemed newsworthy by BBC Scotland whilst the DSIT initiative does get the BBC’s coverage?  And recall, the DSIT projects in Scotland are receiving just £30k each: almost all the individual support projects listed below are being funded to higher levels. Given these descriptions, are none worthy of BBC Scotland’s attention – unless you’ve spotted coverage?

A listing of nothing newsworthy compared to £60k UK government start-up support

Here are the projects to be funded by the Scottish Government:

Project 1. Scottish Asian Business Chamber: ‘Stirlingshire BAME Business Infrastructure Project’ – grant up to £40,900 – creating a referral framework and strengthening partnerships between public agencies and diverse communities through outreach, workshops, networking events, and advisory support.

2. Spark: ‘What If Craigshill’ – grant up to £84,215 – support for over eighty residents in this area of Livingston to explore enterprise through workshops, peer-led ‘micro-clusters’, and digital skills training.

3. The King’s Trust: ‘Enterprise for All’ – grant up to £74,596 – to support disadvantaged young people aged 16-30 in exploring entrepreneurship as a means of overcoming poverty and economic inactivity.

4. Together Reaching Higher CIC: ‘Entrepreneurs Pathways Lab’ – grant up to £84,195 – a place-based entrepreneurship incubator in Govan, to support ethnic minority women, refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants. The programme aims to support 15-20 entrepreneurs, train five peer mentors, and reach up to eighty additional community members, with over two hundred more accessing multilingual digital resources.

5. PeoplePlus Group Ltd: ‘Supporting Women in Enterprise’ – grant up to £82,724 – supporting two complementary projects aimed at empowering women through enterprise viz. ‘HMP Stirling Fresh Start’ and ‘Women in Enterprise’, the latter based in Glasgow aims to engage up to 140 women from under-represented backgrounds – including ethnic minority women, New Scots, refugees, asylum seekers, ESOL students, and those facing employment barriers.

6. Rebel Business School & Ziyx Scotland: ‘Rebel Business School’ – grant up to £111,500 – to provide free, practical business education to underrepresented groups across Scotland through online and in-person delivery. It aims to support over 150 individuals, focusing on women, ethnic minorities, disabled people, carers, and those from deprived areas.

7. City of Edinburgh Council and Business Gateway Edinburgh: ‘Bold Beginnings’ – grant up to £121,864.30 – support for over one hundred women in Wester Hailes and Muirhouse to explore entrepreneurship. It will include outreach, two six-week incubators for twenty women each, tailored coaching, digital support, care/travel vouchers, and seed funding, concluding with a pitch event and joint showcase.

8. East Ayrshire Council: Step Up: ‘Women’s Enterprise Pathway’- grant up to £101,000 – a six-month pilot designed to address persistent under-representation of women in entrepreneurship across East Ayrshire. This project aims to support 60 – 80 women through confidence-building, enterprise training, peer mentoring, micro-grants, and childcare provision. The programme will conclude with showcase events in Kilmarnock and Cumnock, and the establishment of peer networks to sustain impact.

9. West College Scotland: ‘Art of Enterprise’ – grant up to £22,520 – supporting fifteen women from Inverclyde’s most disadvantaged communities, particularly those with care-giving responsibilities, to pursue low-capital, home-based businesses. This programme aims to connect women with local mentors and with Business Gateway, the Chamber of Commerce and Women in Business.

10. The Melting Pot: ‘Enterprise in Place’ – grant up to £127,400 – designed to support 5,000 individuals from under-represented groups to start and grow businesses. It will provide tailored enterprise support in Glasgow, Dunoon, and East Kilbride. Each location will focus on a distinct group: older women facing redundancy, women returners and carers, and young women and non-binary individuals exploring enterprise for the first time.

11. 17 Points Limited: Spark the Connection Roadshow – grant up to £73,345 – support for aspiring entrepreneurs across Aberdeen, Inverness, Dumfries, Melrose, Glasgow, and Perth, offering low-barrier access to entrepreneurship through workshops, networking, regional roadshows, and showcase events. It aims to create opportunities for participants to connect with potential co-founders or senior staff.

12. Social Enterprise Academy: ‘Place-Based Support for Underrepresented Entrepreneurs in Highland & Eilean Siar’ – grant up to £55,370 – to strengthen enterprise support in remote rural communities by training thirty-two staff from Development Trusts and other place-based social enterprises. Participants will receive training through two four-day residential programmes-one in Inverness-shire and one in Stornoway, focused on coaching techniques, enterprise planning tools  and peer network development.

13. Scotpreneur: ‘Mostly Arsed’ – grant up to £38,728 – a self-help programme targeting over four hundred people who are curious about self-employment but unsure where to start, including unemployed individuals, carers, older adults, rural residents, minority ethnic communities, and young people without role models.

14. Stirling Enterprise Park (STEP): ‘FeMade -Turning Female Ideas into Impact’ – grant up to £147,370 – supporting at least forty women across Scotland to turn early-stage business ideas into sustainable ventures. It will focus on those facing barriers to mainstream support, including women from minority ethnic backgrounds, rural areas, low-income households, disabled communities, and those without formal qualifications.

End note

So the announcement of two projects in Scotland receiving a total of £60k from the UK government to support entrepreneurship and new business starts merits coverage in the Scottish Business section of the BBC News website.

An announcement just the day before of £1.1m from the Scottish Government to fund 14 entrepreneurship and start-up support projects in communities across Scotland is ignored by the BBC – unless you know differently!

An announcement just one day after of £2.95m from the Scottish Government to support the commercialisation of 18 innovative tech projects in Scotland is ignored by the BBC – unless you know differently!

Three press releases received within BBC Scotland over just three days but getting markedly different treatment! For BBC Scotland’s business and economy journalists and editor, what makes the £60k funding from Westminster so much more newsworthy than broadly related, very much larger initiatives funded by the Scottish Government?

Anyone wish to suggest the reason? Candidly, I think we’re long past the need to speculate!

And the BBC Scotland business journalists could for good measure add in relevant information on other start-up company support measures funded by the Scottish Government via Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise. They might even consider profiling new and young company support funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by local authorities via Business Gateway while they’re at it.

And back to ScotlandIS, the ‘About us’ section of its website has this: ‘ScotlandIS works closely with Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland to underline the importance of the digital technologies industry to the Scottish economy.’

For BBC Scotland, might this sort of coverage of what the present Scottish Government actually does be viewed as ‘unhelpful’ given the upcoming Holyrood election, making the SNP appear to the electorate to be far too business-friendly?

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