Chamber and committees

The funding provided in the Autumn Statement fell far short of what we need. Instead, the Autumn Statement delivered a real terms reduction in the total block grant.

The Tourism budget sits within the Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy portfolio which saw reductions of £98m (7.2%), requiring difficult decisions on prioritisations.

In recognition of their role in supporting economic recovery and growth in the visitor economy, we have prioritised funding for VisitScotland to the extent possible given the extremely challenging settlement.

As the national tourism organisation VisitScotland remain committed to driving the visitor economy and growing its value to Scotland. In delivering this, they recognise that consumer behaviour and the needs of businesses in both the tourism and events sectors have changed, particularly since Covid and in an increasingly digital world.

To adapt to this new landscape, VisitScotland anticipate making some changes to the way they deliver some of their activities to be even more efficient and effective. In light of the budget announcement, the pace of these changes will likely need to be accelerated.

VisitScotland will continue to focus their efforts on driving the visitor economy through their work on marketing, events, destination development and business advice and support.

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

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: Migration to Scotland after independence

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-migration-scotland-independence/

Main paper publish date: 3-11-2023

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 22,790

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

Easy read publish date: 3-11-2023

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: 2,150

Audio URL: https://on.soundcloud.com/TfSaz

Audio publish date: 3-11-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 20

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

Translation publish date: 3-11-2023

Translation downloads in first month:

Arabic: 15

Bengalii: 6

Bulgarian: 2

Cantonese: 13

French: 16

Gaelic: 12

Hindi: 8

Italian: 1

Mandarin: 9

Polish: 1

Punjabi: 4

Romanian: 2

Russian: 6

Spanish: 15

Ukrainian: 4

Urdu: 29

BSL YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPkTZ2ZVv8

Date BSL Version Published: 3-11-2023

Views in first 30 days: 18

Our analytics tool logs only record 13 months of data for PDF downloads, so we do not have the data for the easy read and translations of this paper as they were published out with this period.

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 : Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/

Main paper publish date : 14-6-2022

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 82,675

Easy read URL : https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/06/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/documents/easy-read/easy-read/govscot%3Adocument/easy-read.pdf

Easy read publish date: 21-8-2022

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

Audio URL: https://youtu.be/oOiOYMYOLYI

Audio publish date : 29-8-2022

Audio link clicks in first month: 13

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/documents/

Translation publish date: 14-6-2022

Translation downloads in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

BSL YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKT9Qqg_j-0

Date BSL Version Published: 13-6-2022

Views in first 30 days: 120

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘ Social Security in an independent Scotland’ were published in the answer to question S6W-23643 on 20 December 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, which totalled £114.27. 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: Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland

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

Main paper publish date: 19-6-2023

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 9,506

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-creating-modern-constitution-independent-scotland-summary-easy-read-version/

Easy read publish date: 19-6-2023

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: 1,254

Audio URL: https://on.soundcloud.com/4GTRW

Audio publish date: 19-6-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 5

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-creating-modern-constitution-independent-scotland-summary/documents/

Translation publish date: 19-6-2023

Translation downloads in first month:

Arabic: 3

Bengalii: 1

Bulgarian: 1

Cantonese: 2

French: 2

Gaelic: 2

Hindi: 2

Italian: 1

Mandarin: 1

Polish: 2

Punjabi: 2

Romanian: 1

Russian: 1

Spanish: 6

Ukrainian: 1

Urdu: 2

BSL YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKuquhRHpw

Date BSL Version Published: 19-6-2023

Views in first 30 days: 15

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

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland’ were published in the answer to question S6W-20991 on 18 September 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, catering and audio visual equipment which totalled £2269.65. 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 .

Our analytics tool logs only record 13 months of data for PDF downloads, so we do not have the data for the easy read and translations of this paper as they were published out with this period.

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: Renewing democracy through independence

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/renewing-democracy-through-independence/

Main paper publish date: 14-7-2022

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 11,948

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/07/renewing-democracy-through-independence/documents/easy-read-version/easy-read-version/govscot%3Adocument/Easy%2BRead_Final.pdf

Easy read publish date: 23-8-2022

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

Audio URL: https://soundcloud.com/scotgov/renewing-democracy-through-independence-summary-audio

Audio publish date: 25-8-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 14

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/renewing-democracy-through-independence-summary/documents/

Translation publish date: 23-8-2022

Translation downloads in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

BSL YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADdaxuT7TI8

Date BSL Version Published: 21-7-2022

Views in first 30 days: 41

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 .