The Scottish Food and Drink Federation (SFDF) has welcomed Vion Food Group's investment in skills and people in Scotland.
Date:
Fri, 23 Sep 2011
Source:
SFDF
SFDF:
Website
Responding to First Minister Alex Salmond's announcement yesterday of major investment in skills and people at VION Food Group in Broxburn, West Lothian, Flora McLean, director of the Scottish Food and Drink Federation, said: "As Scotland’s biggest manufacturing industry, the food and drink manufacturing sector employs almost 50,000 people directly, and many more elsewhere in the food chain.
"The announcement shows that the industry continues to deliver growth, and that manufacturers like VION Food Group UK are investing in their workforce to sustain this growth into the future.
"Despite the current economic climate, our sector turnover and export figures continue to grow. Going forward, an ability to attract, develop and retain innovative people will be key to driving future growth.
"As a priority sector for the Scottish Government, the industry adds significant value through innovation and new product development, and through direct support of other key industries such as tourism and agriculture."
Figures released last week show that employment in Scotland has bucked the negative UK trend and grown by 1.7 percentage points over the period Q2 2010-Q2 2011, maintaining Scotland's relative position as the top-performing country in the UK on labour market participation (source: Labour Force Survey, Seasonally Adjusted Dataset, ONS).
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