Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of the Scotch whisky industry to employment in the food and drink sector.

My department has not made an assessment that looks specifically at the contribution that the Scotch Whisky industry makes to employment in the food and drink sector. Nonetheless we work closely with the industry, particularly the Scotch Whisky Association, who in 2015 published a report which found that the Scotch Whisky industry supports over 40,000 UK jobs, including over 10,000 employed directly by the industry in Scotland.

Through close engagement with the industry and assessment of empirical data such as trade statistics, excise duty and VAT, HM Government is fully aware of the large contribution that Scotch Whisky makes to both the Scottish and wider UK economy.