Chamber and committees

There are currently no Scottish Development International staff employed in the Dublin, Brussels or Berlin hubs. When our London Hub opens in 2017, the eight people working for Scottish Development International in London will transfer there. SDI is currently considering how the additional staff resources can be most effectively deployed across Europe according to market opportunities.

The Scottish Government does not gather data on women’s representation on listed private sector boards in Scotland. However, since 1999, the Cranfield School of Management has published an annual female FTSE benchmarking report providing a regular measure of the number of women executive on the corporate boards of the UK’s top 100 companies.

The Cranfield School of Management’s Female FTSE Board Report 2016 provides statistics on women’s representation on the boards of FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 boards in the UK. The report shows that in 2016 women held 26% of directorships on FTSE 100 boards, an increase of 11% since 2012. In March 2016, women held 20.4% of directorships on FTSE 250 boards and 22.4% on FTSE 350 boards.

The SHC come to their own view as to whether Health board proposals are major or not. Ministers make the final determination on designation where necessary (Health boards often decide that proposals are major themselves and follow the appropriate process without the need to ask Ministers), as informed by the views of the particular Health board and SHC.

In such cases I take full account of the views of the Scottish Health Council and Health board before coming to a final decision.

The Scottish Health Council published guidance entitled ‘identifying major service change’ (February 2010) to help inform the Health board view. This poses questions about the proposals under nine key areas: impact on patients and carers, changes in the accessibility of services, whether emergency or unscheduled care is involved, the level of public and political concern, any conflict with national policy, the level of change in the method of service delivery, related change in recent years, the financial implications, and consequences for other services.

It is important not to pre-judge the outcome of the current engagement process as the proposals may change or not be pursued at all.

Should NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde decide to proceed with their proposals, I will carefully consider their view and that of the independent Scottish Health Council in coming to a determination on whether the proposals should be designated major. If that is case then the proposals would be subject to formal public consultation and, ultimately, Ministerial approval.

I have been consistently clear that I'd be happy to meet with local campaigners and their representatives to help inform my final decision on any major service change proposals, once the engagements and formal consultation period has concluded.

We are taking a number of actions to support and strengthen Scotland’s economy, in keeping with the priorities identified in our Economic Strategy.

We’ve taken action to support the economy’s resilience following the EU referendum result, including through our Capital Acceleration Programme. The Scottish Growth Scheme will help to support investment in Scotland. We’re taking forward a number of actions to improve our innovation performance, and our expansion of childcare will help parents to participate in the economy, supporting inclusive growth. We are promoting Scotland on the international stage through our Innovation and Investment Hubs in Dublin, London, Brussels and Berlin.

Our Enterprise and Skills Review will bring even greater integration and focus to the delivery of our enterprise and skills support, to help ensure we maximise the contribution our agencies make to improving Scotland’s economic performance.

Our intention is that the bodies involved in enterprise and skills delivery will each retain their separate legal status and chief executive. We will consult on potential governance options as part of taking forward phase two.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05560 on 14 December 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05560 on 14 December 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government, working closely with our Scottish Development International and our enterprise agencies, undertakes a broad range of activity to help attract investment to Scotland. Our trade and investment strategy published in March this year set out a comprehensive action plan to boost Scotland’s international trade activity, including stimulating inward investment opportunities, and to make it clear that Scotland is open for business. The four point plan, announced by the First Minister in October, also set out actions which will play an important role in promoting Scotland and raising its global profile to potential investors.