Kate Forbes defends Techscaler scheme after 'holiday' claims

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has defended the government's Techscaler programme, calling criticism of the scheme “unsubstantiated”. 

The initiative has faced criticism after the Sunday Post exposed allegations that taxpayer-funded trips were being used as free holidays by participants in the scheme.  

Techscaler was launched in 2022 with the aim of accelerating tech startups in Scotland through education, mentorship and the creation of a network for growth. It received an investment of £42m from the Scottish Government and has supported over 2,500 companies since its founding.  

The Sunday Post received information from a whistleblower who claimed that participants in the scheme were unhappy that senior staff brought their partners and partied nightly on foreign trips. The scheme was also criticised for having lax screening controls for businesses applying and lacking a concrete plan for Scottish businesses to network with their peers.  

The programme pays for members to take trips to destinations like Singapore and Silicon Valley to network with potential investors in Scottish companies. The scheme is reported to have brought in up to £195m in funding and currently holds a membership of over 1,300 start-ups.  

The scheme is delivered by Codebase, a company focused on building ecosystems to support tech start-ups by connecting them to industry figures and governments. The report claims that individuals within Codebase who went on foreign trips were barely seen at events, didn’t have meetings with participants and drank alcohol daily. 

In an FOI request submitted to the government, the Post requested access to feedback forms used after foreign trips and received redacted copies that only showed positive feedback. Unknown to the government, the paper had already received unredacted forms from a source that highlighted the concerns held by some who went on these trips.  

In a statement, to parliament, Forbes defended the initiative. “The unfortunate reality is that we are not here to discuss the rationale for Techscaler or its performance, or to debate how the programme could be optimised,” she said.  “Instead, we are here because some see political capital in a series of unattributed, unsubstantiated claims that have been made in the press.” 

According to Forbes, the scheme has been well received, with positive feedback expressed by founders and business leaders across Scotland. In response to allegations that trips were disorganised, Forbes said that the programme does not have a “militarised” schedule and is intended to allow Scots to live and work in the “world's best ecosystems”. 

Addressing the expenses issue, Forbes said that participants in the scheme cannot claim for any additional travel or subsistence costs and that spending on expenses only takes up two per cent of the scheme's total budget.  

The Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser challenged Forbes to explain why negative parts of the FOI requests had been redacted, accusing the government of not wanting to "give a balanced view on the value of those trips—or was the negative feedback simply too embarrassing?"

“First, some elements were commercially sensitive, and I think that nobody disagrees with that,” Forbes said. “Secondly, the information was provided on the express basis of anonymity. If the same people who are so keen on reducing or removing that anonymity cannot even get anybody to go on the record in the press without their names being removed, that says it all.”