This week began with a visit from economics students from the Iowa State University in the USA. As part of their trip to Scotland, they visited the Scottish Parliament and I was delighted to meet with them to discuss Scotland’s economic landscape.
The Scotch Whisky Industry held a roundtable discussion on Tuesday evening in Edinburgh. A fundamentally important part of Scotland’s economy, we discussed the critical role and impact of the Scotch Whisky industry and how policy can secure the industry and its partners’ continued success.
I sponsored two events in the Scottish Parliament this week – the St Patrick’s Day dinner and an event celebrating 40 years of Community Enterprise In Scotland. I was pleased to welcome my colleagues from across political parties to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and the trade links between Scotland and Ireland. Supporting employability and skills development, CEIS are an invaluable organisation for SMEs who play an important part in Scotland’s economy.
I held several meetings this week. As issues around the cost of living continue, Reapit, a technology provider to residential property sales and letting agents, met with me to discuss the energy efficiency challenges facing the Private Rented Sector in Scotland. I also visited RBS in Edinburgh this week to find out more about their Accelerator scheme. Supporting entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, the Accelerator scheme opens up a wealth of opportunities to businesses looking to expand. You can find out more about the scheme here: https://www.rbs.co.uk/business/business-services/entrepreneur-accelerator.html
Finally, I spoke at both First Minister’s Questions and asked a supplementary on an urgent question this week. You can listen to my urgent question on my previous post. I also asked the First Minister about the recent NIESR report which highlighted the fact that the poorest people in Slovenia are now more wealthy than the poorest in the UK, that UK productivity is low and noted that medium sized countries that are independent are wealthier. You can watch my contribution here: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/first-ministers-questions-march-20-2025?clip_start=12:18:52&clip_end=12:21:51
