Whisky: Scotland

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the role of Scotch Whisky distillers as employers in rural Scottish communities.


Answered by
Alister Jack Portrait
Alister Jack
Secretary of State for Scotland
This question was answered on 24th February 2021

There are currently 134 operating Scotch Whisky distilleries across Scotland. More than 10,000 people are directly employed in the Scotch Whisky industry in Scotland and over 40,000 jobs across the UK are supported by the industry. 7,000 of these jobs are in rural areas of Scotland providing vital employment and investment to communities across the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in Scotland.

This Government fully recognises the important contribution the Scotch Whisky industry makes to rural communities which is why we continue to support the industry in a number of different ways, for example:

  • We promote Scotch Whisky through the “Food is Great” campaign and last year we announced £1 million dedicated to showcasing Scottish food and drink exports around the world;

  • We also froze spirits duty at Budget 2020 and at five of the six budgets before that and this ensured that the price of a typical bottle of Scotch is £1.54 lower than it otherwise would have been since ending the spirits duty escalator in 2014;

  • We provided a £10 million fund to help the UK's world-famous distilleries go green by switching to low carbon fuels such as hydrogen.

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