Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which overseas trips by Scottish Government Ministers have been supported by his Department or British embassies and consulates in each year since 2010; what the purpose of these trips was; and what support was offered.

UK Embassies provide considerable support for Scottish Government Ministers when they are overseas. In 2013, UK Embassies supported more than 40 overseas visits by Scottish Government Ministers and in 2014 (up to October 2014), a further 14. The nature of the visits varies widely, as do the destinations, from supporting the First Minister of Scotland’s visit to Washington for Tartan Week, a full cultural programme in Berlin for the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, to the Minister for External Affairs and International Development’s trade engagements in the Gulf. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold central records from before this period.