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The following table provides information on the value of Scottish tourism each year since 2005. Earlier data is not included as explained in the footnotes.

Expenditure by Overnight Tourists in Scotland, 2005-09 (£ Million)

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009P
UK residents	3,006	2,720	2,836	2,812	2,736
Overseas residents	1,208	1,439	1,367	1,241	1,359
Total	4,214	4,159	4,203	4,053	4,095

Source: International Passenger Survey, UK Tourism Survey.

Notes:

1. 2009 figures are provisional

2. The UK Tourism Survey underwent a methodology change in May 2005, with the survey moving from a telephone survey to a face-to-face survey. The change was made because of serious doubts about the reliability of the survey data being produced by the telephone survey methodology.

3. In 2005, the Office for National Statistics changed the methodology of the International Passenger Survey by adding Prestwick and Liverpool airports as survey sampling points. This did not change the total UK estimates, but had a significant effect on the Scottish figures.

4. Due to the unreliability of the UK Tourism Survey data before 2005, and the effect of the methodology change in the International Passenger Survey in 2005, data for years before 2005 have not been included.

The following table provides information on overnight visits to Scotland by UK residents living outside Scotland each year since 2005. Earlier data is not included as explained in the footnotes.

Overnight Visits in Scotland by UK residents, 2005-09 (Millions)

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Scotland	6.75	6.35	6.23	5.84	5.85
Wales	0.36	0.15	0.18	0.21	0.19
N. Ireland	0.54	0.38	0.42	0.36	0.42
England	7.23	6.40	6.29	5.74	6.01
Total	14.87	13.28	13.12	12.15	12.47
UK residents living outside Scotland	8.13	6.93	6.89	6.31	6.62

Source: UK Tourism Survey.

Notes:

1. The UK Tourism Survey underwent a methodology change in May 2005, with the survey moving from a telephone survey to a face-to-face survey. The change was made because of serious doubts about the reliability of the survey data being produced by the telephone survey methodology.

2. Due to this unreliability, data for years before 2005 have not been included.

In the core Scottish Government and the agencies who utilise its recruitment services there were a total of 764 posts advertised internally and 129 advertised externally in the period 1 May 2009 to 17 May 2010. The following tables show the breakdown per month.

The majority of vacancies in the Scottish Government are advertised internally first to ensure that existing staff are given the opportunity to move around the organisation for career progression and development purposes. If posts are not filled internally these are then placed on the wider civil service jobs websites to offer to civil servants from other government organisations that are surplus to requirements or may move for career purposes. It is only after this step that the decision is made to advertise externally.

No. of Posts Advertised Internally 1 May 2009 to 17 May 2010

May 2009	June 2009	July 2009	August 2009	September 2009	October 2009	November 2009	December 2009	January 2010	February 2010	March 2010	April 2010	May 2010
21	87	89	76	76	77	62	48	62	76	64	24	2

 

No. of Posts Advertised Externally 1 May 2009 to 17 May 2010

May 2009	June 2009	July 2009	August 2009	September 2009	October 2009	November 2009	December 2009	January 2010	February 2010	March 2010	April 2010	May 2010
9	20	28	12	15	7	12	8	7	5	3	3	0

 

The NHS Scotland National Catering and Nutritional Services Specification: Half Yearly Compliance Report (July “ December 2009) is the first ever publication of data that will drive up standards for the nutritional care of patients. The data gives boards an assessment against which they can measure progress and build on performance.

The Scottish Government welcomes publication of this data and encourages all NHS boards to strive for green status in hospitals across Scotland. Our investment in the procurement and rollout this year of an innovative nutritional database will assist boards further in making continuous improvement towards optimum compliance.

Health Facilities Scotland intends to carry out verification checks of the data supplied on a regular basis. Furthermore, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) has recently completed its audit processes for assessing NHS Boards against the QIS Clinical Standards for Food, Fluid and Nutritional Care in Hospitals. I understand that the results of this audit will be published shortly.

The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to achieve green status of at least 90% compliance for each of the food standards by April 2011. NHS boards are now better placed than ever to improve compliance, with, for the first time, data against which to measure progress. Furthermore, the new national nutritional database which has now been procured will revolutionise the provision of hospital food by providing a nutritional analysis of all recipes to ensure that all patients'' special and unique dietary needs are met. This should help to improve compliance with the Therapeutic Diet Provision criterion in particular, under which boards have found some difficulties in providing a choice of options for patients.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of providing food for patients which is palatable as well as nutritious. That is why Health Facilities Scotland is working with the National Catering Advisory Group to ensure continuous improvement and to share best practice. Furthermore, all NHS boards carry out regular sampling of patient meals and have regular patient satisfaction questionnaires to identify any areas for improvement.

The maximum intervention under the Energy Saving Scotland home loans scheme was reduced to £4,000 for electricity generating technologies to compliment the Feed-In Tariff which is expected to give a return on investment of 5-8% even without upfront capital support.

The number of applications for Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant and home loan schemes received up to close of business on 17 March 2010 that have not been processed are 131 and 69 respectively.

The Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant scheme was ended for electricity generating technologies because this funding was allocated on a first come first served basis and saw a substantial increase in the uptake of grants for these technologies over the last few months.

This led to a more rapid reduction of funds than anticipated and meant the scheme had to stop accepting new applications for electricity generating technologies just short of the introduction of the Feed-In Tariff on 1 April 2010.

Home renewables grants currently remains open for heat generating technologies in existing buildings. New initiatives in relation to electricity technologies such as the Feed-In Tariff and enhanced energy standards in new buildings will encourage significant uptake of these technologies.