Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and its agencies provide a range of business support to Island based distillers through various schemes and initiatives.

Through Highlands and Islands Enterprise we provide a range of support measures to island businesses including financial assistance towards commercial investments, advice through the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service, assistance with staff training programmes, innovation and research and development costs, support with market research overseas trade missions and learning journeys. The Scottish Government also operate the Food Processing , Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme, with the primary purpose to support the sustainable economic growth of the food and drink industry in Scotland through greater co-operation and collaboration from primary production and processing to the market.

The following grants have been awarded to island distilleries:

Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Scheme - Isle of Harris (£1.9million) and R and B Distillers (£0.68 million).

Since 2012 HIE have provided funding for various projects to - Isle of Arran Distillers (£103k), Isle of Harris Distillers Ltd (£1.3million), Kilchoman Distillery (£110k), Shetland Distillery (127k), Torabhaig Distillery (£157k) and Uisge Beatha nan Eilean (£8k).

One of the ways the Scottish Government particularly provides support for the islands is through subsidised freight fares to lifeline ferry services operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd and Serco Northlink Ferries. Since 2007, we have invested just over £1 billion in ferry services (including road equivalent tariff).

We have also invested more than £81 million in piers and harbours since 2007 including £17.8 million towards Ullapool harbour and £8.6 million towards Stornoway harbour to accommodate the new £42 million Ullapool – Stornoway vessel, MV Loch Seaforth.

The XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 were always about more than 11 days of spectacular sport and culture. The games provided an opportunity to create a lasting legacy for the host city, host country and the Commonwealth.

Culture: The Glasgow 2014 Culture Programme was unprecedented in scale compared to any previous cultural celebration in Scotland. The programme had two strands: a Scotland wide year long programme called Culture 2014 and a citywide games time celebration called Festival 2014. The programme contained over 3,000 performances and 3,600 exhibition days and was delivered by over 10,000 artists and arts professionals, supported by almost 4,000 volunteers.

The Glasgow 2014 Culture Programme was the first Commonwealth Games culture programme to have dual city and nation focus and the first to start a year out from the games. The evaluation of the 2014 Culture programme published in June 2015 reported that the Glasgow 2014 culture programme was a bold and innovative commission, producing work of artistic excellence while offering a mix of fresh and exciting cultural experiences. More than 12,000 events took place with an estimated 2.1 million visits, while over 8,000 artists, and 2,500 organisers.

Tourism: The Commonwealth Games showcased Scotland as a leading visitor destination, profiling the country’s tourism and major event credentials. Glasgow is now one of the world’s top 10 sporting cities, currently ranked 5th in the world in the SportBusiness Ultimate Sports City Awards. Attracting thirteen high quality major sporting events to Commonwealth Games venues. Future events include the 2017 badminton world championships, 2018 Indoor athletic grand prix at the emirates arena, and the European championships 2018. 2014 also provided the springboard for a further significant increase in visitor spending. In 2015, this rose by 14% for domestic visitors (5% overall) to reach £5 billion and is on track to meet the target in the industry-led Tourism Strategy of £5.5 billion by 2020.

External Affairs: During the games we worked to support heads of state/government programmes to showcase the best of Scotland’s trade and investment, culture, education, energy, food and drink and investment opportunities. We have used the engagement with Commonwealth Governments during and post games to:

Maximise diplomatic, business, cultural and international development links;

Promote Scotland as an attractive place in which to do business, invest, live, study and visit;

Highlight our role as a good global citizen.

Highlight our commitment to human rights and LGBT equality – and to provide encouragement and assistance to others as they seek to become fairer, more progressive nations.

The Scottish Government recognises that food and drink is an important part of the visitor experience in Scotland, and is working in partnership with the food and drink industry leadership organisation, Scotland Food and Drink, to help increase the value of the food and drink sector and to build Scotland’s reputation as a land of food and drink. The Scotland Food and Drink partnership are now developing the 2017-30 food and drink industry strategy to continue to support the growth and reputation of the sector.

In 2015, as part of the Year of Food and Drink led by VisitScotland, there were a number of initiatives that set out to inspire the people of Scotland and visitors to celebrate Scotland’s outstanding natural larder; these included food and drink event funding and the establishment of four food trails. We are continuing to promote the ‘Taste Our Best’ accreditation award, delivered through our partnership with VisitScotland, which is currently held by over 1,000 businesses, and helps customers to identify restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes that serve quality locally sourced food and drink.

The Scottish Government consulted on the Law of Succession between June and September 2015. The consultation focused on reforms to modernise succession law, based on the removal of the distinction between heritable and moveable assets, as recommended in the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Succession (published in 2009).

The consultation looked at a range of issues such as what level of protection from disinheritance there should be for spouses, civil partners and children, on rights for co-habitants and a new scheme for intestate succession.

An independent analysis of the consultation responses has been carried out which the Scottish Government is currently considering. A key part of that consideration will be the potential impact of any changes to succession law, including on testamentary freedom and the choice of beneficiaries.

Scottish Ministers have a manifesto commitment to take forward a consultation to review the regulation of the legal profession in Scotland and to support a modern and effective legal sector, including new forms of business model.

The Scottish Government is currently in discussion with the Law Society of Scotland on options for regulatory reform. We will seek views on these options before any proposals for primary legislation are made.

The Scottish Government introduced the Succession (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament on 17 June 2015. It provided, in the main, for changes to technical areas of the law. It was passed on 28 January 2016 and Royal Assent was granted on 3 March 2016. Changes made to caution requirements for executors dative commenced on 4 March 2016 and the remainder will be commenced towards the end of 2016

In particular, the Succession (Scotland) Act 2016

Closes a number of jurisdictional gaps so that where Scots law is the applicable law, the Scottish courts will have jurisdiction

Reforms how wills may be rectified by the courts

Reforms how survivorship should operate

Clarifies the effect of divorce, dissolution or annulment on a will.

The Scottish Government welcomes the 'Jewish Objects for Education in Scotland' boxes initiative which supports learning and teaching about Judaism and understanding of religious and cultural diversity in Scotland.

This initiative was developed by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) with support from Education Scotland. The initiative provides the opportunity for all local authorities to request a free box of authentic Jewish artefacts for use in schools. The resource is accompanied by the offer of career-long professional learning for staff to support the use of the boxes.

Education Scotland will be working with SCoJeC to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative, and intends to develop similar initiatives based on this model with other religious and belief groups in Scotland.

While the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare in Scotland, it is for each NHS board to decide best how to utilise funding, facilities and staff while taking account of national and local priorities to meet local health needs, including those for people recovering from a brain injury.

What I can confirm is that Scotland’s health boards have received more than £500 million in additional funding in 2016-17 to support the provision of frontline healthcare services. There is a national Scottish Acquired Brain Injury Network (SABIN) that seeks to improve outcomes for all acquired brain injury patients. SABIN in Scotland is a national managed clinical network and they have undertaken a comprehensive communication and engagement programme with patients, carers and key stakeholders and their aim is to improve access and quality of care for people with acquired brain injury across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00480 16 June 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 is currently engaging with stakeholders to inform the form and content of the proposed consultation on nicotine vapour products. No date or time period for the consultation has yet been fixed.