Chamber and committees

As highlighted in the Programme for Government, growing the economy is a key strategic priority for the Scottish Government and this includes continuing to focus on attracting both foreign direct and large scale capital investment and why the Deputy First Minister is leading a programme of impactful investor engagement.

Our approach to growing the economy ensures Scotland provides the optimal business environment attractive to investors, maximising the benefits from any nearshoring and other investment opportunities.

Scotland has a strong track record of attracting inward investment, with the EY UK Annual Attractiveness Survey in July 2024 showing Scotland maintaining its position as the top performing part of the UK outside of London for the ninth year.

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s shared approach with Local Government and wider partners to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. Services are delivered locally, ensuring individuals, including young people, receive tailored support to help them progress into sustainable employment.

The Scottish Government expanded its workforce to deliver on the new powers devolved from the 2012 and 2016 Scotland Acts, including establishing the Social Security Agency, and to respond to EU Exit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government routinely works with partners to support the manufacturing sector in Scotland. In addition, our investment strategies are designed with the goal of maximising the impact of our interventions, allowing us to maintain our position as the top performing region or nation of the UK for inward investment projects outside of London for the ninth year running as per the 2024 EY Attractiveness Survey.

Under section 2 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, the Lord President as head of the Scottish judiciary is responsible for "making and maintaining appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of judicial office holders". Training is delivered through the Judicial Institute, under the direction of the Lord President.

It is for a court to reach a view about the appropriate terms of an order in a particular case based on the existing law and the facts and evidence before them.

There are protection measures available to a person at risk of future abuse by application to a civil court. These include an exclusion order to suspend the legal right of a spouse or civil partner and in some cases, a cohabitant, to live in the family home, for the duration the order is in place. Other conditions can be requested, including preventing a spouse or civil partner from coming within a certain distance of the home, or preventing the removal of any items from the home.

An exclusion order is temporary. It will end, for example, when a married couple divorce or when a civil partnership ends. An exclusion order does not affect who owns or tenants the home, nor prohibits future transactions with the property. Before applying to the court for an exclusion order, the person at risk must have the legal right to live in the family home, either as an owner or tenant or because they have occupancy rights as the spouse or civil partner of person who is so entitled. A non-entitled cohabitant can apply to the civil court for occupancy rights and seek an exclusion order.

The Scottish Law Commission are working on a project at the moment on civil remedies against domestic abuse: Scottish Law Commission :: Aspects of family law

The Scottish Government along with Scottish Development International and Enterprise Agencies are actively engaged with business and international firms operating in Scotland to expand the domestic supply chains. For instance, Scottish Enterprise works with more than 350 foreign owned businesses to support their growth which includes encouraging the benefits of engaging with local supply chain companies.

This is achieved by building on the strength of Scotland’s innovation ecosystem, which supports technology development and skills across a wide range of manufacturing sectors, leveraging the knowledge and expertise of industry bodies, partners and Scotland’s academic institutions. This approach will enable our manufacturing sector to take advantage of emerging market opportunities, such as offshore wind, hydrogen and future industries in which Scotland has the potential to excel.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-36449 on 24 April 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies.

Officials engaged regularly with Scottish airports during the disruption affecting Heathrow Airport in order to understand the impact on Scotland. Whilst no concerns were raised by Scottish airports in relation to power supply, we would of course be happy to engage further with the sector should any issues arise that directly affect Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to provide support to the entire food and drink sector to help businesses with their economic growth ambitions. This includes £10 million funding for the period 2023-2025 to support the implementation of Scotland's food and drink strategy “Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World” which outlines how we are driving growth for businesses across various sectors, including the drinks industry. In addition, we have invested over £7 million in the Scotland Food and Drink Export Plan since 2014, helping Scottish businesses to capitalise on key global market opportunities. Specifically in relation to whisky the Scottish Government continues to actively engage with the UK Government to strike a good deal for whisky in the proposed India Free Trade Agreement, which is the largest market for whisky in the world.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with all our partners to call for a long-term return to tariff free trading that has been mutually beneficial for the Scottish and US spirits sectors, as part of a wider UK-US negotiated solution. I met with the UK Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security on 2 April to discuss this. The Deputy First Minister met with the US Chamber of Commerce on 3 April and the First Minister met with senior figures in the whisky sector in New York on 7 April to hear directly from the business leaders involved and hosted a business round table which included the Scotch Whisky Association and the Food and Drink Federation on 16 April. The First Minister also met with the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, on the 11 April to discuss tariffs amongst other topics.