LAST week, as the new parliamentary session kicked off, we received some great news about Scotland’s economic performance.

Ernst & Young published their annual ‘Attractiveness Survey’ – which found that Scotland had what they called a “truly spectacular year” for foreign direct investment in 2015.

The number of inward investment projects in Scotland rose by an astonishing 51% last year – compared to 20% for the UK as a whole – helping to create more than 5000 jobs.

For the sixth year running, Scotland is the most attractive place to invest in the UK outside of London.

All of this is testament to the underlying strengths of Scotland’s economy, Scotland’s high international recognition, and to the work that we’ve done to make Scotland an attractive place to invest.

This is a welcome boost, but we know our economy faces a number of challenges. The difficulties in the North Sea oil and gas sector during the past 18 months have undoubtedly slowed growth and affected levels of employment – and we’re doing everything we can to support those key industries.

That said, despite the falling oil prices and uncertain global conditions, our economy still managed to grow last year. We now need to consider carefully our next steps.

I’ve already made clear how central this is to the SNP Government, by appointing Keith Brown as the first dedicated Economy Secretary in my new Cabinet.

And today the Scottish Parliament will hold a wide-ranging debate on how to move our economy forward over the next five years.

It will not only give the SNP Government a chance to set out its economic priorities, but we will also listen carefully to constructive ideas put forward by MSPs from across the political divide.

One of the reasons that Scotland is punching well above its weight in terms of attracting investment is that we are an extremely competitive place to do business.

Our Small Business Bonus Scheme, introduced in 2008, has already saved small businesses in Scotland £1bn.

There’s absolutely no doubt of the success of this policy – that’s why, in next year’s budget, we’ll extend the small business bonus by increasing the relief threshold and lifting 100,000 properties out of business rates altogether.

We’ll also review the wider business rates system to ensure that it’s geared toward supporting economic growth and job creation.

But we also need to raise productivity in Scotland. Although the productivity of our economy has improved relative to the rest of the UK, we know that it’s still a long way behind that of European neighbours such as Germany and Sweden.

Crucial to this is increasing innovation, which is why we’re investing £120 million in new innovation centres to bring together businesses and academics to develop ideas and products in some of the key growth sectors of the future. We’ll continue and expand that approach.

We’ll also launch an annual innovation prize, and will invite our Council of Economic Advisers to propose specific actions to boost productivity through innovation.

And to capitalise on our success in attracting inward investment, over the next year we’ll open two new investment hubs, in London and in Brussels, to add to our hub in Dublin.

Of course, part of making ourselves a good place to do business is having good infrastructure.

We’ll be investing almost £20bn in a major infrastructure programme over this parliament. You’re going to see major rail and road improvements being unveiled in and around Glasgow – including the Glasgow Subway modernisation, the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line and the M8 upgrade.

And we shouldn’t forget digital infrastructure. It may be less obvious in a city like Glasgow, but lack of access to superfast broadband is a real issue in many of our remote and rural areas.

In 2012, just 42 per cent of premises across Scotland had access to fibre broadband; now, the figure is above 85 per cent, but that is not good enough. By 2021, we intend to reach 100 per cent of premises across the country – that’s a hugely ambitious target, but a vital one.

Finally, I want to ensure that economic growth benefits everyone in Scotland – that’s why we’ve been working so closely with Trade Unions and other stakeholders on a Fair Work agenda.

Through our Scottish business pledge, for instance, we’ll encourage more companies to adopt good employment and business practices, such as gender equality, the living wage and worker involvement.

As the new SNP Government gets down to business, we’re absolutely focussed on making our economy the strongest it can be – and in five years’ time I want to be able to look back and know that every man, woman and child in Scotland has benefited from that strong economy.