Chamber and committees

As part of the ongoing VisitScotland website project, in November 2012 the main VisitScotland website will also incorporate the long-haul “Come to Scotland” websites for North America and Australia as well as VisitScotland’s European City Gateway sites (which are currently available in German, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish). At this point VisitScotland will be undertaking a full translation review to ensure Scotland’s key international markets continue to be targeted effectively so that VisitScotland can continue to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.

Electricity generators are charged for using the transmission network according to the charging zone in which they are located. These zones are defined solely by the physical and operational characteristics of the network, rather than by local authority area. It is therefore not possible to estimate the average charge levied in each local authority.

There are eight zones in Scotland, with charges ranging from £10.50/kW in Zone 8 (Auchencroish, around Hunterston) to £22.05/kW in Zone 3 (Western Highland and Skye). In comparison, charges in the south of the network are much less (or are negative). For example, the charge is –£13.35/kW in zone 16 (Central London) and -£5.68/kW in zone 20 (Peninsula, covering Cornwall and parts of Devon).

Local authorities are entitled to seek reimbursement of expenditure reasonably incurred in making grants under section 47 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 and in connection with their administration of the private water supplies grant scheme on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.

Section 47 reimbursement claims submitted to the Scottish Ministers and paid out in each of the last five years are as follows:

Information on the number of hospital episodes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis is published by ISD Scotland at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Hospital-Care/Publications/2012-03-27/Diagnosis_HB_Mar12.xls.

Information on the number of hospital episodes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis per 100,000 population is published by ISD Scotland at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Hospital-Care/Publications/2012-03-27/Diagnosis_HB_Mar12.xls.

The following table provides figures for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 from the Scottish Health Survey. The survey did not run continuously until 2008 and therefore figures are not available for each of the last five years.

Table 1 Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity, Children Aged 5-15

Notes:

1. Overweight (including obese) is defined as BMI at or above the 85th percentile of the UK 1990 reference charts.

2. Obese (including morbidly obese) is defined as BMI at or above the 85th percentile of the UK 1990 reference charts.

The following table provides figures for the years 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010 from the Scottish Health Survey. The survey did not run continuously until 2008 and therefore figures are not available for each of the last five years.

These figures are published and are available in table 7.3 of the Scottish Health Survey 2010 annual report.

Table 1 Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity, Adults Aged 16+

Notes:

1. Overweight (including obese) is defined as BMI >= 25.

2. Obese (including morbidly obese) is defined as BMI >= 30.

This information is published in table 6.1 of the Scottish Health Survey 2010 report which is available via the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/09/27084018/0.

The following table provides figures for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 from the Scottish Health Survey. The survey did not run continuously until 2008 and therefore figures are not available for each of the last five years.

The annual sample sizes for the two to four age group are relatively small and therefore the confidence intervals around these estimates are wide. Caution should be exercised in drawing any conclusions from yearly fluctuations. Data on children aged two to six is published in the Scottish Health Survey annual reports and shows a different pattern to that for the two to four age group. In addition, there is evidence that children's weight fluctuates in the early years so establishing trends within this age group can be problematic. Data on childhood obesity from the Growing up in Scotland survey for example, shows that 40% of children who were classed as overweight or obese at age four were of healthy weight by age six.

Table 1 Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity, Children Aged Two to Four

Notes:

1. Overweight (including obese) is defined as BMI at or above the 85th percentile of the UK 1990 reference charts.

2. Obese (including morbidly obese) is defined as BMI at or above the 85th percentile of the UK 1990 reference charts.

This information is published in table 6.4 of the Scottish Health Survey 2010 report which is available via the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/09/27084018/0.