Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the impact of rising shipping costs on the Scotch whisky industry.

The importance of the Scotch whisky industry to the UK economy is recognised, providing £5.5bn Gross Value Added (GVA) to the economy and supporting more than 42,000 jobs across the country. The Department for International Trade engages regularly with The Scotch Whisky Association and individual whisky producers to support opportunities in overseas markets through Free Trade Agreements and understand challenges the industry may face. We closely monitor global trading conditions to assess the impact of factors such as shipping costs on our key export industries.