The payment of £38,013 to Christian Engineers was the final grant instalment from the Scottish Government's international development fund to the project in Pakistan 'Community level drought resistance in Thar'. The project, which began in June 2013 and ended in March 2016, aimed to build the capacity of 30 villages in the Thar Desert to resist drought more effectively so that residents, especially women in 900 vulnerable households, would have improved water security and healthier, more stable lives.

More information on this project and all other international development fund projects can be found on the website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/International/int-dev

The Scottish Government is committed to rigorous monitoring and evaluation procedures for all publicly funded activity. The Scottish Government’s international development team monitors projects regularly, requiring formal six monthly narrative and financial reports on progress against agreed objectives. Only once a report is satisfactory will the next tranche of project funds be released. The team is additionally in regular contact with the grant holding organisations throughout the year. The team also work closely with finance colleagues to ensure robust processes and financial transparency throughout. More information on the Scottish Government's monitoring and evaluation processes for its international development work, including managing the grants, can be found on the website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/International/int-dev/MandE-Reporting

The Scottish Book Trust delivers a range of initiatives which help to promote reading for pleasure. The main programmes funded by Scottish Government are Bookbug, Read, Write, Count and the First Minister's Reading Challenge.

The Bookbug programme provides bags of books and literacy materials from birth to primary 1. A report on Language Development and Enjoyment of Reading from the Growing Up in Scotland study concluded that parents who received and used the pack read or looked at books more frequently with their child than parents who did not receive or use Bookbug. The study (published in 2016) also concluded that the relationship between receipt of and use of the Bookbug pack and home learning activities did not appear to be confined to the most advantaged socio-economic groups.

The Growing Up in Scotland study can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/06/2715

The Bookbug for the home programme provides additional ‘outreach’ support to families in disadvantaged circumstances, training practitioners to take elements of the Bookbug approach into family homes. The most recent evaluation report on Bookbug for the home (April 2015) found evidence to show that it equips early years professionals to support parents to interact more with their children and to develop a relationship with books.

Though it is too early to draw conclusions on either First Minister's reading challenge or read, write, count, the grant arrangements for both programmes include a requirement on book trust to evaluate the impact of the programmes.

The Scottish Book Trust deliver a range of additional initiatives using funding from creative Scotland. This includes book week Scotland - Scotland's annual celebration of reading and writing. In 2015 book week Scotland delivered 761 events and activities across 32 local authority areas. 79% of schools reported having organised book week Scotland events in the school.

The grant provided by the Scottish Government to the Centre for the Moving Image in December 2015 is a one-off payment to enable the development and implementation of a business development plan with the aim of securing the long term sustainability of its objectives, programmes and activities. This includes the organisation and management of the annual Edinburgh International Film Festival, as well as the operation of the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse cinemas. A report outlining progress will be submitted to Scottish Government in July 2016.

 

The payment of £68,000 to the Scottish mining museum trust in December 2015 was a regular bi-monthly payment which was part of a total available grant of £410,000 over the financial year 2015-16. This annual grant is to enable the national Mining Museum of Scotland to deliver a high quality museums service to the public and look after the collections in its care.

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 detail of cultural and sporting events provided with funding support in each of the last five years, either directly through the Scottish Government's tourism and major events budget or VisitScotland's events directorate EventScotland, is available from the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Bib. number 58012).

The Scottish Government and Scotland Europa offices based in Scotland House contribute to the delivery of the Scottish Government’s priorities across portfolios. The Scottish Government regularly reviews its operations and priorities in all areas where there is a Scottish EU interest and reports on activities to the Scottish Parliament at the beginning of each EU Presidency term.

Scotland Europa priorities are reviewed on an annual basis as part of the Scottish Enterprise process. In addition Scotland Europa priorities are discussed annually with its members. Work to establish an innovation and investment hub in Brussels will enhance our ability to engage with and influence EU institutions and individual member states and collaborate with others to help secure additional investment for Scotland.

The important contribution of Scotland's tourism industry to the Scottish economy is recognised through it being designated as a key sector in the Scottish Government Economic Strategy - and associated economic research. The most recent example of Scotland’s place, perception and position in the world, and the value placed on relevant factors by visitors to Scotland, is the Anholt - GfK Roper Nation Brands Index: 2014 Report for Scotland. A copy may be found using the url - http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/12/4339.”

In addition, as the national tourism organisation, VisitScotland carries out a ‘Scotland Visitor Survey’ to gauge the reasons visitors decide to holiday in Scotland. The current survey is a two year research programme covering 2015-16, the survey will also take place during the summer of 2016 and further results will be available in 2017. Factors that attract visitors to Scotland are set out in the Scotland Visitor Survey 2015 which was published by VisitScotland in March 2016. The full report can be accessed here:

http://www.visitscotland.org/pdf/Final%20(external%20use)%20Scotland%20Visitor%20Survey%202015%20updated%208%20March%202016.pdf

The conclusions and data gathered from this research (and findings from relevant, non-Scottish Government research) gives the Scottish Government a better understanding of where we need to prioritise efforts, and we will continue to work in partnership with the tourism industry and public sector partners to drive further improvement in the industry and deliver sustainable economic growth enabling all of Scotland to flourish.

Scottish Ministers regularly meet with the Scotch whisky industry to discuss issues of interest - the latest of which was 15 June 2016 when I met with David Frost, the Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association.

The Scottish Government also works with Scotland Food & Drink (SF&D) who are the industry’s leadership organisation whose mission is to grow the value of the nation's food and drink sector to £16.5 billion by 2017 and build Scotland’s reputation at home and abroad as a land of food and drink.

Scotland Food & Drink brings all the industry associations in the food and sector –including the whisky sector– together with the key public sector agencies. Work is done in a spirit of collaboration and partnership to develop the economic growth strategy for the industry, for which Scottish Government and public sector agencies align support.

The Scotland Food & Drink partnership is increasingly recognised across the rest of the UK and internationally as a model to follow. The partnership between industry and government forged through Scotland Food & Drink has been integral to success and is recognised as key to food and drink moving from being a sector of static growth in 2007 to one of the best performing sectors of the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government and its agencies – Scottish Enterprise (SE), Scottish Development International and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) provide a range of support and assistance to the Scotch whisky sector, through various initiatives.

Account teams within SE, HIE and Scottish Development International deal with the larger whisky businesses. They also work directly with many of the smaller and the more recently established independent distilleries across Scotland. They also work with firms in the industry supply chain, and have supported initiatives such as the Speyside Whisky Festival. They offer long term strategic support to companies through the account management service. SE account manages 60 alcoholic drinks companies and HIE 14.

The range of support measures to these businesses include financial assistance towards commercial investments, advice through the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service, assistance with staff training programmes, innovation and research and developmen 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, whose primary purpose is 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, ensuring the long term viability of primary producers, and increasing export markets for Scottish produce.

Scottish Enterprise has commissioned research into the alcoholic drinks sector in Scotland. Building on the Scotch Whisky Association economic impact report, this piece of research is being undertaken to help us understand more about the wider alcoholic drinks sector, future trends, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats it faces in the future.

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.