Chamber and committees

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why not Scotland?’ were published in the answer to question S6W-11001 on 23 September 2022. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, a BSL interpreter and audio visual equipment which totalled £1647.80. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

We have previously answered two FOIs on website visits to the Building a New Scotland Papers:

• Unique online visitor statistics: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Building a New Scotland webpage visitors: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Paper title: Citizenship in an independent Scotland

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-citizenship-independent-scotland/

Main paper publish date: 27-7-2023

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 32,144

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-citizenship-independent-scotland-easy-read/

Easy read publish date: 27-7-2023

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: 1,186

Audio URL: https://soundcloud.com/scotgov/building-a-new-scotland-citizenship-in-an-independent-scotland-summary-audio-version

Audio publish date: 27-7-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 31

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-citizenship-independent-scotland/documents/

Translation publish date: 27-7-2023

Translation downloads in first month:

Arabic: 42

Bengalii: 8

Bulgarian: 9

Cantonese: 42

French: 30

Gaelic: 27

Hindi: 13

Italian: 18

Mandarin: 69

Polish: 9

Punjabi: 9

Romanian: 6

Russian: 10

Spanish: 22

Ukrainian: 13

Urdu: 43

BSL YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5WndkF6tnw

Date BSL Version Published: 27-7-2023

Views in first 30 days : 28

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘ An independent Scotland in the EU ’ were published in the answer to question S6W-23099 on 30 November 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for staff travel, catering and venue costs, which totalled £518.50. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘ Renewing democracy through independence’ were published in the answer to question S6W-11002 on 23 September 2022. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, a BSL interpreter and audio visual equipment which totalled £1718.60. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘ Citizenship in an independent Scotland’ were published in the answer to question S6W-20992 on 18 September 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, which totalled £160.80. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

We have previously answered two FOIs on website visits to the Building a New Scotland Papers:

• Unique online visitor statistics: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Building a New Scotland webpage visitors: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Paper title: An independent Scotland in the EU

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-independent-scotland-eu/

Main paper publish date: 17-11-2023

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 11,691

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-independent-scotland-european-union-eu-easy-read-version/

Easy read publish date: 17-11-2023

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: 573

Audio URL: https://soundcloud.com/scotgov/needs-title-building-a-new-scotland-an-independent-scotland-in-the-eu/s-IXKVEu8ZrOd

Audio publish date: 17-11-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 15

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-independent-scotland-eu/documents/

Translation publish date: 17-11-2023

Translation downloads in first month:

Arabic: 5

Bengalii: 5

Bulgarian: 0

Cantonese: 11

Croat: 1

Czech: 3

Danish: 1

Dutch: 7

Finnish: 2

French: 16

Gaelic: 13

German: 13

Greek: 3

Hindi: 1

Hungarian: 2

Irish: 5

Italian: 54

Latvian: 3

Lithuanian: 1

Maltese: 3

Mandarin: 3

Polish: 5

Punjabi: 5

Romanian: 2

Russian: 2

Slovenian: 0

Spanish: 9

Swedish: 2

Ukrainian: 1

Urdu: 5

BSL YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Lwav2GpYY

Date BSL Version Published: 17-11-2023

Views in first 30 days: 26

As stated in my answer to question S6W-19768 given previously, no such payments have been made since the establishment of Historic Environment Scotland in 2015. Scottish Government pay policy for public bodies has not permitted performance-related payments for Chief Executives or for staff at director/executive level over this period.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The resource grant funding budget of £39,446,000 for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) in 2024-25 is intended to close the gap between HIAL’s commercial revenue and operating costs. As passenger numbers and commercial revenue have continued to recover post-pandemic, the subsidy requirement to maintain HIAL’s operations has lowered. The amount of grant funding required in 2024-25 will be determined by ongoing growth in passenger numbers, the delivery of new commercial opportunities and measures to reduce operating costs.

Historic Environment Scotland’s inspection programme will conclude at the end of March 2024. Once completed, Historic Environment Scotland will have a clearer indication on extent of the challenge and the resources required to carry out conservation works. There is now full or partial access at 53 of the 70 sites that had access restricted due to High Level Masonry issues. I am pleased that Historic Environment Scotland continues to put the health and safety of individuals first, reopening sites when safe to do so and I will continue to engage regularly with Historic Environment Scotland on this matter.

Details of the inspection programme and site reopenings are published on the Historic Environment Scotland website.

VisitScotland handles two types of complaints: Visitor complaints - complaints and feedback submitted by visitors about their holiday experience in Scotland; and Corporate complaints - complaints about VisitScotland’s actions or services, as per the Ombudsman’s definition.

The following data relates to visitor complaints regarding various issues, and are not categorised into successfully or unsuccessfully resolved. The number of complaints of this nature made to VisitScotland from 2016 to 2023 is as follows: