Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-27475

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received a response to the First Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister of 24 July 2015 regarding the so-called Wilson doctrine and, if so, whether it will publish this.

Question reference: S4W-27477

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available to local authorities to tackle asbestos in schools.

Question reference: S4W-27476

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of schools contain asbestos.

Question reference: S4W-27233

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its annual spend on tourism has been in each year since 2007-08.

Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested heavily in projects that have supported tourism in Scotland either directly or indirectly including transport projects such as the Border railway and A9 improvements, digital connectivity and the Step Change programme, promoting Scotland’s unique food and drink produce, support for nature through Scotland’s Forest and National Parks. Scotland’s marine environment is being protected by Marine Scotland and Scottish Canals is managing our canal network and delivering projects such as the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies. Heritage projects are being delivered all over Scotland by Historic Scotland who are investing in Scotland’s flagship castles at Edinburgh and Stirling, Elgin Cathedral and Iona Abbey. The Scottish Government has provided support for major events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.

VisitScotland produced a Tourism Development Framework, which was published in July 2013. The Framework document sets out the role of the planning system in delivering the visitor economy and supports the national tourism strategy Tourism Scotland 2020. The document provides detail on tourism related projects that have been undertaken since 2007. The attachment List of Action Plan Projects at September 2014 also provides information on projects that will be undertaken between 2014 and 2020 to promote growth in Scotland’s visitor economy. The report can be found on VisitScotland’ s web site using the link below:

http://www.visitscotland.org/what_we_do/tourism_development_plan.aspx

Question reference: S4W-27481

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many sheriffs will serve in the new personal injury courts; whether they will sit (a) in rotation or (b) simultaneously and what information it has regarding how many have had specific experience of personal injury cases.

Question reference: S4W-27479

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 18 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding the levels of mesothelioma and other conditions that have arisen because of suspected exposure to asbestos in schools.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the lead agency for safety in the workplace and has responsibility for enforcement of the related asbestos legislation and regulations. A report published in 2014 by the HSE titled Mesothelioma in Great Britain 2014: Mesothelioma mortality in Great Britain 1968-2013 analysed statistics on mesothelioma mortality in the UK between 1968 and 2013. This considered the overall scale of disease including trends in case numbers and deaths. It also includes an estimate of the future burden of mesothelioma deaths to 2030.

NHS National Services Scotland collects statistics on the detailed incidence, mortality and prevalence data for mesothelioma patients in Scotland. These are published on the Information Services Division Scotland website.

In relation specifically to exposure in schools, the Institute of Cancer Research and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine undertook a case control study for the Health and Safety Executive in 2009. Titled Occupational, domestic and environmental mesothelioma risks in Britain: A case-control study, this study was the largest global study of its kind, funded by Cancer Research UK and the HSE, and involved more than 600 patients with mesothelioma who were interviewed to examine UK rates of the disease linked to different occupations. It found there was little or no evidence of increased risk in non-industrial workplaces such as schools.

Question reference: S4W-27465

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 September 2015 (Official Report, c. 13), in light of the First Minister’s comments about the Scotland Bill and the fiscal framework, what information it can provide regarding the progress being made by the Joint Exchequer Committee.

Question reference: S4O-04611

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether robotic radical prostatectomy is available from the NHS.

Question reference: S4W-27236

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which local tourism bodies receive support from VisitScotland, broken down by amount received.

Details of VisitScotland’s growth fund awards for the year 2014-15, for the Year of Food and Drink and the period 2015-16 are in the following tables:

2014-15 Growth Fund Awards

Area/Local Authority	Recipient’s name	Project Description	Amount
Aberdeen City	Aberdeen Festivals	An international marketing campaign to promote Aberdeen’s broad range of festivals highlighting nine major events throughout the year, starting with the month-long Arts Across Learning Festival at the end of February. The campaign will aim to align Aberdeen’s festivals, which include everything from music and the visual arts to science and dance, with the city’s rich array of food and drink and its accommodation.	£25,000
Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire	Golf Aberdeen City and Shire	Campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the region as a golfing destination and increasing golfing visitors through familiarisation trips, website creation, event and exhibition attendance, print and online marketing.	£22,500
Argyll and Bute	Gardens of Argyll and Bute	To increase visitor numbers to Argyll and Bute gardens and increase the number of gardens in the group, carried out through the use of websites and social media in conjunction with Argyll and the Isles Tourism Cooperative.	£12,202
Dumfries and Galloway	South of Scotland Golfers’ Association	To promote Dumfries and Galloway as a region with a varied and good value golf product using online and print marketing.	£10,000
East, Mid and West Lothian	Visit West Lothian	Promotion of West, Mid, and East Lothian as a key stopover and destination to the group tour market.	£11,900
East Lothian	East Lothian Golf Tourism Alliance	Promotion of East Lothian’s golf product, bringing in ancillary services such as food and drink and accommodation.	£22,280
Edinburgh, City of	Marketing Edinburgh	The development of the North American market to secure additional business for the members of Marketing Edinburgh Ltd and the city of Edinburgh as a whole.	£39,100
Edinburgh, City of	Festivals Edinburgh	A multi-touchpoint campaign, targeting new markets throughout the year, with tailored ‘spotlight’ festivals message within cities across the UK including, Leicester, Bristol and York have been identified.	40,000
Highland	Cairngorms Business Partnership	Cairngorms Business Partnership series of themed mini-campaigns, either product (e.g. cycling) or location specific (e.g. Aviemore).	£35,000
Highland	Lochaber Enterprises Ltd	A year-round campaign aimed at encouraging more people from Scotland’s central belt to explore Lochaber. Promoting the region’s outdoor adventure sports, its wildlife and landscapes, as well as its food and drink.	£25,000
Highland	Dornoch	A brand new marketing campaign designed to “put Dornoch on the map”. A number of businesses in the partnership have joined forces to target people in the UK who are looking for an ideal short-break destination. Content themes of this campaign will include the promotion of fly fishing lessons, golf tuition, private guided walks at Dunrobin Castle Gardens and expert whisky tasting.	£40,000
Perth and Kinross	Golf Perthshire	Maximising the golfing legacy from the 2014 Ryder Cup in Perthshire.	£15,414
South Ayrshire	South Ayrshire Council Year 3	Arts and cultural festival designed to complement the creativity and variety of the work of Robert Burns and his legacy. Specific activity includes newly designed programme, targeted distribution strategy and new outdoor display elements.	£14,000
Stirling	Destination Stirling	Establishment of a new destination organisation, set up on the back of a Scottish Enterprise funded strategy and with backing from VisitScotland and Stirling Council, to take advantage of 2014 opportunities.	£26,000
Stirling	Breadalbane Tourism Co-operative	Campaign designed to build on Ring of Breadalbane Explorer hop-on, hop-off bus and promote ‘Rings’ beyond the bus, such as walking and cycling (on and off-road) routes.	£10,000
National	The Scottish Licensed Trade Association	To promote a positive image of Scottish pubs by telling ‘little heard of stories’ associated with pubs across the length and breadth of Scotland using a variety of marketing and communication tools.	£60,000
National	Sail Scotland	To increase visitors from key target markets through consumer exhibitions and promotional marketing.	£22,500
National	Scotland’s Gardens	A new national network of gardens, nurseries and related businesses working together to showcase the country’s outstanding horticulture to the world. The network aims to achieve an increase in visitor numbers to Scottish gardens, reap financial benefits for its members and drive national and international tourism in the gardens and natural environment sector.	£30,000

Total: £460,896

Year of Food and Drink Growth Fund Awards (2014-15)

Area/Local Authority	Recipient’s name	Project Description	Amount
Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire	Aberdeen City and Shire Food Tourism	A new regional collaboration, to position the area as a key part of Scotland’s Larder, showcasing the region’s rich food and drink offering, alongside the area’s natural rural landscape and surroundings.	£20,000
Argyll and Bute	Oban and Lorn Tourism Association	A regional campaign, building on Oban’s ‘Seafood Capital of Scotland’ brand, and promoting the area’s natural larder and ‘pasture to plate’ ethos. The campaign will raise awareness of the area’s marine heritage and its prominence in Scotland’s sustainable shellfish and seafood farming industry.	£15,000
Edinburgh, City of	Edinburgh World Heritage	A new trail, highlighting locations in the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites with historical food connections. The food heritage trail offers a new angle on sites across the old and new town world heritage sites, lining historic buildings and their food traditions.	£7,000

Total: £42,000

2015-16 Growth Fund

Area/Local Authority	Recipient’s name	Project Description	Amount
Moray	Moray Speyside Tourism	A marketing campaign aimed at increasing visitors’ awareness of Moray Speyside and build the Made in Moray brand. Content themes of the campaign include The Moray Speyside Larder, Cycle Moray Speyside and The Draw of the Coast.	£20,648.42

Total to date: £20,648.42

Question reference: S4W-27232

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what funding streams are available for local tourism bodies.

Financial support is available for local tourism bodies from a number of public bodies, although as funding is an operational matter for these organisations the information requested is not held centrally.

Examples of potential funding support include:

VisitScotland provides support through its growth fund, available for well researched, collaborative marketing campaigns to groups of tourism businesses operating at a local or national level, which will generate additional visitors to Scotland. The fund can support groups with up to 50% of approved total marketing costs to a maximum award of £40,000.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise (SE) are currently working with and supporting a number of tourism groups across Scotland in line with their business priorities. The nature and scale of intervention varies across the tourism groups and is driven by the specific requirements and development needs of the group, aligned to the priorities for tourism for the local area and set in the context of the ambitions of the industry led Tourism 2020 Strategy and their operating plan priorities. HIE and SE are able to support tourism groups by drawing on a number of products and services offered across their portfolios. Support can be targeted at strategy development, internationalisation, project feasibility, organisational capacity and capabilities. Where there is a clear business case for support, both organisations are able to grant in aid to tourism groups to deliver specific projects.

Scottish Natural Heritage operates a grants programme to which tourism bodies can apply if their projects fit the relevant criteria. Its most recent round had a specific priority on nature based tourism, wild foods and innovative enterprises based on sustainable use of natural assets. The focus was on projects based on wide cross-sector partnerships: those developing partnerships with businesses reliant on Scotland’s nature and landscapes in the tourism and food and drink sectors, those adding value to businesses using natural heritage based brands, and those strengthening links between wildlife sites and the local economy.

National Park authorities support tourism projects which focus on key outcomes for the National Parks. This includes maximising the benefits of national initiatives such as Visit Scotland’s focus years and promoting sustainable transport around the National Park. The authorities may make a contribution to tourism groups on a case by case basis to assist the delivery of projects to achieve these outcomes.

Chamber and committees