Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 357 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-02159

Asked by: Ruth Davidson, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the contribution is of the Scotch Whisky industry to Scottish GDP.

The Scottish Government does not have disaggregated Gross Value Added (GVA) figures explicitly covering the 'whisky' industry. However, GVA figures for the 'spirits' industry, which is heavily dominated by the whisky industry, are published in the Scottish Government’s ‘Scottish Annual Business Statistics’ report. The latest figures show that the ‘spirits’ industry directly generated £1.8 billion in GVA in Scotland in 2014.

The Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) also produce estimates of the economic impact of the Whisky sector. Their latest report estimates that the industry directly generated a GVA of £3.3 billion in Scotland in 2014. The variation in the above estimates reflects differences in the estimation methodologies employed and the definition of the whisky industry.

The economic contribution of the Whisky industry to the Scottish economy in future years will depend in part on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, a market worth over £1 billion to the sector. Prior to the referendum, the Scottish Whisky Association warned that the UK leaving the EU could put Scottish Whisky exports at risk.