Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is exploring all options to secure Scotland’s interests, and to protect its relationship with the EU and our place in the single market.

As part of this, the Scottish Government is currently undertaking a range of analyses to understand the potential implications of the UK exiting the EU across various policy areas and scenarios. These draw on Scottish Government in-house work, analysis commissioned by others and advice by its expert Standing Council on Europe.

In the coming weeks the Scottish Government will table specific proposals that would allow Scotland to stay in the single market and to preserve aspects of our relationship with the EU.

The Scottish Government is exploring all options to secure Scotland’s interests, and to protect its relationship with the EU and our place in the single market.

As part of this, the Scottish Government is currently undertaking a range of analyses to understand the potential implications of the UK exiting the EU across various policy areas and scenarios. These draw on Scottish Government in-house work, analysis commissioned by others and advice by its expert Standing Council on Europe.

In the coming weeks the Scottish Government will table specific proposals that would allow Scotland to stay in the single market and to preserve aspects of our relationship with the EU.

Powers to make trade agreements are not currently held by the Scottish Government but are held by the UK which is not able to make any trade agreements whilst it remains a member of the European Union.

The Scottish Government’s priority at present is to protect our relationship with Europe and ensure Scotland and the UK remain members of the single market. We are engaging directly with the UK government to achieve those objectives and to protect Scotland's interests. In the meantime, our trade and investment strategy published in March this year set out a comprehensive action plan to boost Scotland’s export activity and to make it clear that Scotland is open for business with Europe and with the rest of the world.

Following the Brexit result, engagement has taken place with countries within EFTA, EEA, and EU and its institutions to discuss the implications of the result for Scotland on trade and other matters. Scottish Ministers will continue to update the Scottish Parliament on their meetings and engagement plans.

Powers to make trade agreements are not currently held by the Scottish Government but are held by the UK which is not able to make any trade agreements whilst it remains a member of the European Union. The Scottish Government’s priority at present is to protect our relationship with Europe and ensure Scotland and the UK remain members of the single market. We are engaging directly with the UK government to achieve those objectives and to protect Scotland's interests. In the meantime, our trade and investment strategy published in March this year set out a comprehensive action plan to boost Scotland’s export activity and to make it clear that Scotland is open for business with Europe and with the rest of the world. Following the Brexit result, engagement has taken place with a number of countries, including Switzerland, Canada, US and Norway to discuss the implications of the result on Scotland on trade and other matters.

The questions were answered on 21 November 2016.

Since the EU referendum, we have been engaging regularly with energy stakeholders to understand the implications of the vote, including the impact on investor confidence.

The Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy has had a series of one-to-one meetings with senior representatives of the energy sector to understand their concerns, and he and the Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland's Place in Europe jointly hosted an event in Edinburgh for energy stakeholders on 21 September 2016 to hear the sector's views on the challenges, opportunities and way forward following the EU referendum.

At the 17th meeting of the National Economic Forum on 26 October 2016, the First Minister spoke to around 150 business and public sector leaders - including representatives from the energy sector - about the impact of Brexit on Scottish businesses.

Energy stakeholders have highlighted that investor confidence was already low in the renewable energy sector as a result of recent UK Government policy changes, and prolonged uncertainty may see existing or planned energy investments stall. EY's latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index, published in October 2016, saw the UK fall to 14th place - its lowest position yet in the rankings.

We are determined to do everything we can to mitigate the impact of Brexit on the energy industry in Scotland and we will use all the powers and influence available to us to provide the stability that the industry and consumers need.

We estimate that there are 116,000 people employed in the food and drink sector in Scotland. By applying ONS estimates which determine that approximately 30% of the wider UK food and drink sector are other EU citizens then we estimate that a figure of around 35,000 of those are other EU Citizens working in the sector.

The Scottish Government will do all it can to protect Scotland’s interests; I met Angela Leadsom on 3 November in Edinburgh and George Eustace on 8 November in Cardiff to emphasise the importance of maintaining appropriate regulations that bring benefits including product value and trade access.

I refer the Member to the answer for question S5W-02189 on 21 November 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 following table provides a consolidated response to S5W-02189, S5W-02190 and S5W-02191 answered on 21 November 2016. The increased capital budget in 2015-16 reflects the budget profile for the now completed National Sports Performance Centre, Oriam, at Heriot Watt University.

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