Chamber and committees

Since the Digital Development Loan was launched 50 businesses have been supported by the Digital Growth Fund.

The Scottish Government supports schools and communities through its funded bodies to promote culture and heritage using digital technology. The National Collections, Creative Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, National Performing Companies and the Scottish Library and Information Council all have exciting and innovative digital projects in place which allow users access to a wealth of culture and heritage resources.

These include: digital learning resources that are linked to many areas of Curriculum for Excellence which cover resources for both Primary and Secondary school age students; funding to support innovative ways for people to use public libraries in communities across Scotland; and working with vulnerable young people to explore themes from current repertoire through dance, music, visual art and digital media.

There are also programmes which have seen young people co-designing digital outputs such as music recordings, videos, virtual tours and on-line resources, and programme which develop participants’ digital skills.

The census rehearsal operation started on 7 October 2019 and closed for returns on 7 November 2019, with a reference date of 13 October 2019. The rehearsal was conducted in three local authority areas, namely parts of Glasgow City, Dumfries and Galloway and Na h-Eilieanan Siar, reaching 72,000 households. National Records of Scotland will be evaluating the information gathered through the rehearsal over the coming months and will publish an evaluation report in March 2020. The results of this evaluation will be used to inform further improvements to systems and the planning approach for Scotland’s Census 2021.

The definitions reflected in our strategy, ‘A Connected Scotland’, are drawn from the NHS Health Scotland review of social isolation and loneliness prevalence and trends.

Social isolation refers to when an individual has an objective lack of social relationships (in terms of quality and/or quantity) at individual group, community and societal levels.

Loneliness is a subjective feeling experienced when there is a difference between the social relationships we would like to have and those we actually have.

Scotland is recognised as the Home of Golf and it is a recognition we are proud of with an estimated 700,000 rounds of golf played by our visitors each year. Just this year, we have hosted five top-class golf events, including the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles which has raised the profile of golfing across Scotland, the UK and internationally. This builds on our reputation for hosting successful international golfing events including the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews.

These events stimulate new interest and investment and we are keen that the benefits of golf tourism are spread across Scotland. To achieve this, South of Scotland Golf has been invited to join the Golf Tourism Development Group. VisitScotland has recently supported paid marketing campaigns in partnership with South of Scotland Golf and it continues to promote golf tourism in the South of Scotland through its regular activity, including hosting information on its website and through its targeted marketing.

The Scottish Government has also provided VisitScotland with £500k to take forward the See South Scotland campaign which is promoting the whole of the South of Scotland as a destination for authentic and outdoor experiences.

The Scottish Government adopts a Scotland-wide approach to route development. This cross Government partnership involving Transport Scotland, Scottish Development International and VisitScotland, works closely with Scotland’s airports to provide support to airlines in a way which can be instrumental in securing new routes or expanding an existing service.

The Scottish Government provides support in the form of attractive cooperative marketing packages and market intelligence and data on the potential of the Scottish market. Additional support can be considered for airlines which wish to base aircraft in Scotland considering the economic benefits, including job creation, that comes with such a development.

Improving Scotland’s air connectivity is one of this Government’s top priorities, with a focus on routes that are important for business and inbound tourism. In recent years, our partnership with Scotland’s airports has helped secure new links between Scotland and Doha, Dubai, Boston, Chicago, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Beijing and a number of European cities.

Now, more than ever, we need to make it easy for Scotland to do business with the rest of the world and improving air connectivity is key to that. The Scottish Government will continue to promote Scotland as a destination which can sustain more direct international air services and better global hub connectivity and will continue to work with all Scotland’s airports to achieve these objectives.

There have been multiple constructive discussions between the Scottish Government and the Electoral Commission to discuss the Bill over recent months. As I have indicated previously, I intend to bring forward some amendments at Stage 2 that would improve the framework further as a result of these discussions.

The Scottish Government recognises the work of Scottish Racing and the impact it has on employment, rural communities and the economy. Scottish Racing recently produced their Annual Review and 2019 Outlook http://www.scottishracing.co.uk/annual-review/ which reported that Scottish Racing had generated a turnover of £306.3m in Scotland in 2018. The five Scottish racecourses generated £23.9m of revenues and sustained 180 full time equivalent jobs directly, contributing £33.3m and 390 jobs to their local economies in near-course activity.

The Scottish Government regularly meets and will continue to engage with Scottish Racing in order to assist them to realise their ambitions.

No revenue has been generated for the Scottish Land Fund from the removal of the exemptions for sporting rates.

Local Authorities retain every penny of non-domestic (NDR) rates raised locally, including any income from the abolition of NDR relief on shootings and deer forests.

Work on the review of the non-statutory Blue Badge Code of Practice has begun and is being taken forward by Transport Scotland officials working with relevant stakeholders, including MND Scotland with respect to testing new models for obtaining a Blue Badge for inclusion in the Code. We expect to publish a revised Code of Practice during the 2020-21 financial year.