Chamber
Plenary, 22 Mar 2007
22 Mar 2007 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
Manufacturing
Enterprise, Lifelong Learning and Transport
Scottish ministers provide a wide range of support to manufacturing companies in Scotland. That includes financial support, innovation grants, practical support for companies to improve productivity and efficiency, and business and product planning services that are delivered through our enterprise agencies.
On practical support, in its first year of operation our Scottish manufacturing advisory service undertook 119 hands-on manufacturing reviews with Scottish companies, identifying a potential £19.6 million in productivity and process improvements to manufacturing companies.
On financial support, in the past five years manufacturing businesses have accepted more than 500 offers of regional selective assistance totalling some £189 million for projects that involve the planned creation or safeguarding of more than 23,000 jobs.
In addition, in the past five years our research and development support schemes, which are the small firms merit award for research and technology, support for products under research—SPUR—and SPURplus, have offered nearly £40 million to 340 projects across Scotland.
On practical support, in its first year of operation our Scottish manufacturing advisory service undertook 119 hands-on manufacturing reviews with Scottish companies, identifying a potential £19.6 million in productivity and process improvements to manufacturing companies.
On financial support, in the past five years manufacturing businesses have accepted more than 500 offers of regional selective assistance totalling some £189 million for projects that involve the planned creation or safeguarding of more than 23,000 jobs.
In addition, in the past five years our research and development support schemes, which are the small firms merit award for research and technology, support for products under research—SPUR—and SPURplus, have offered nearly £40 million to 340 projects across Scotland.
In the same item of business
4. Christine May (Central Fife) (Lab):
Lab
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has in place to support manufacturing industry, what the value is of such support and how many jobs have been ...
The Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Allan Wilson):
Lab
Scottish ministers provide a wide range of support to manufacturing companies in Scotland. That includes financial support, innovation grants, practical supp...
Christine May:
Lab
It is often suggested, particularly by the Scottish National Party, that RSA and other grants are exploited by rapacious foreign companies, which grab a gran...
Allan Wilson:
Lab
I do indeed and I note that in the same period to which I referred, businesses in the Fife area accepted 72 offers of RSA totalling more than £20 million. Th...
Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
I cannot help but wish that, when I was an IBM salesman, the minister had been my manager because he seems to be able only to record gains and never to accou...
Allan Wilson:
Lab
It would be helpful if the official Opposition, too, gave a balanced account of the performance of the Scottish economy in these and other debates. The decli...