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Scotland has lower female inactivity and unemployment rates and a higher female employment rate than the UK as a whole. However, we recognise more can be done.

Through our Labour Market Strategy we are continuing to support and encourage people into the labour market, to reduce unemployment and increase employment. Our approach is to create an economy that supports a sustainable working population and that can retain and attract new talent, to meet our wider economic and social ambitions.

Alongside this, the Scottish Government has set out new commitments to; establish a Council for Women and Girls, deliver a programme for women returning to work following a career break and supporting the newly created working group to look at pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace. On top of this we have announced a funding package of £200,000 which will enable organisations like Women’s Enterprise Scotland, Investing Women and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to tackle the gender gap within enterprise growth. This is very much in line with The Scottish Government’s committed to promoting a can do culture of entrepreneurship across all of society.

Operational delivery of SDI is provided by Scottish Enterprise, with a contribution from Highlands & Islands Enterprise. Scottish Government staff are also embedded across SDI in a range of functions and provide operational trade and investment support working alongside SE and HIE staff

SDI’s workforce across the globe, including the EU, in each year since 2011-12 is provided in the following table:

* Calculated as full time equivalent posts and rounded up to the nearest full post.

The following table shows the SDI posts in the EU (outwith the UK)

The Scottish Government is exploring all options and will table specific proposals in the coming weeks to protect Scotland’s interests and keep us in the Single Market, even if the rest of the UK decides to leave.

In light of the findings of the Audit Scotland report, the SFC is currently working with the sector to establish the up-to-date maintenance requirements of the colleges' estate.

The distribution of funding to individual colleges is an operational matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to respond.

This is a matter for individual colleges.

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, including with the rest of the UK. Scottish Development International currently has sufficient resource within the UK to deliver that. The opening of an innovation and investment hub in London will play a crucial role in promoting Scottish goods and services to existing and new customers and markets in London and beyond.

The Ernst & Young (EY) Attractiveness Surveys provide data on the number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects and associated planned jobs, note that the investment value is not reported. Table 1 provides the FDI projects and planned jobs figures for 2011 to 2015. The latest published figures are for the 2015 calendar year.

Table 1: Number of FDI projects and planned jobs, Scotland, 2011 to 2015

Source: Ernst & Young Attractiveness Surveys

The current Executive Management Team comprises:

• Ron Smith – Chief Executive Officer

• Derek Banks – Finance and Commercial Director

• Jules Matteoni – Operations Director

• Mike Stewart – Business Development Director

• Sonia Rafferty – Human Resource Director

The Chief Executive Officer, Chief Commercial Officer and Finance Director appointed by the previous owners left the business in September 2015, August 2015 and May 2016 respectively.

The volume of freight transported through the airport in each year since 2011 is:

Source: CAA