Chamber and committees

Before I bring in Lorna Slater, I have a question on VisitScotland’s digital reach. How is the budget spent with regard to paid advertising and promotions? We need to get that kind of reach. It is not simply about people deciding to follow or look at VisitScotland’s content, but about how it is promoted to people. That can be a very expensive part of the process, so I wonder what percentage of the budget goes towards it. You talked about closing the visitor information centres, which might free up some revenue for other spend, and there is a difficult settlement from the Scottish Government. How do you manage that part of the budget? Is it increasing, or is it having to be curtailed?

Does VisitScotland, as an organisation, have the capacity to understand that specific area of work and what the smart ways to spend money are? Do you understand where the audience is, and how to undertake the data analysis around that? Do you do that work as an organisation, or do you employ or contract someone else to do it?

Thank you for that. I call Lorna Slater, to be followed by Michelle Thomson.

All three of your organisations are involved in delivering the national strategy for economic transformation. We are expecting a refresh of that strategy. How relevant do you feel the strategy is to your organisations? What are you looking for from the refresh?

We are carrying out budget scrutiny today, and the economy portfolio’s budgets are pretty small—your organisations’ budgets are pretty small—in the context of the whole Scottish budget. Are those budgets appropriate, given the level of economic investment? You have talked about partnering with other agencies, so it might be that it is an area of great importance that, all the same, does not need a significant level of investment. Do you feel that, if we are serious about growing the economy, NSET should give an opportunity to prioritise this area and ensure that it gets more Government focus and, possibly, more resources?

Thank you.

Jane—do you want to come in on that point?

I am sorry to interrupt, Mr Black, but you said that you had reduced the organisation by 20 members of staff. How has the work that they would previously have done been absorbed?

That is helpful, because I am interested in what you say in your submission in that regard. You referred to third-party additional support for funding, and you provided the spaceport as an example of that. However, you have also talked about “reductions in activity”. Are there particular areas where you had to reduce activity? You have chosen priority areas on which to focus. Which areas are being reduced?

I come back to South of Scotland Enterprise. Now that we have heard from Mr Black of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, do you want to say whether, given the budget pressures, there are areas where your organisation has prioritised funding and areas where you feel that you have had to reduce activity?

My next question is for VisitScotland. In previous budget submissions, the committee has asked the Government to prioritise tourism or to protect that part of the budget, but VisitScotland is facing a 10 per cent real-terms decrease in its budget. Vicki Miller, do you want to say a bit about that? There will be an opportunity for other members to ask more in-depth questions, but perhaps you can give us an overview of the impact of the budget cuts.