Seòmar agus comataidhean

As at end-November 2008, the VisitScotland.com website (www.visitscotland.com) lists 7,190 quality assured accommodation providers. Approximately 1,000 of these have chosen to have an online booking facility through the VisitScoland.com''s booking engine and more than 600 are small businesses that have purchased the Web-In-A-Box tool.

Data on the number of hotels and guest houses listed on VisitScotland.com who have chosen to offer an online booking facility through the VisitScotland.com''s booking engine are listed at table 1 and 2. Table 3 provides a breakdown of all types of accommodation providers.

The total number of tourist beds available through these online booking facilities can vary depending on the season and how many beds individual providers offer via this particular booking method.

Information is not available broken down by local authority area, but is shown by each of the marketing regions used by the website.

VisitScotland.com re-launched the website in April 2008, providing direct access for consumers to the individual accommodation providers on the Visitors Guide and opening new booking enquiries channels through the Travel Shop. Substantial growth has been achieved on the overall number of e-mail enquiries and also direct enquiries to accommodation providers.

Table 1: Hotels

Marketing Region	Listed on VisitScotland.com	Online Booking Facility
Aberdeen	94	23
Angus and Dundee	30	11
Argyll and Stirlingshire	100	47
Edinburgh and Lothians	115	75
Fife	40	16
Greater Glasgow and Lanark	90	49
Highlands and Skye	166	77
Orkney	15	0
Perthshire	67	34
Shetland	8	7
South of Scotland	119	46
Western Isles	15	8
Total	859	393

 

Table 2: Guest Houses

Marketing Region	Listed on VisitScotland.com	Online Booking Facility
Aberdeen	59	11
Angus and Dundee	14	4
Argyll and Stirlingshire	117	29
Edinburgh and Lothians	156	81
Fife	32	3
Greater Glasgow and Lanark	31	8
Highlands and Skye	150	65
Orkney	15	1
Perthshire	60	16
Shetland	10	1
South of Scotland	93	30
Western Isles	20	3
Total	757	252

 

Table 3: By Type of Accommodation

Category	Listed on VisitScotland.com	Online Booking Facility
Hotel	859	393
Guest Houses	757	252
B&B''s	1,409	181
Self catering	3,298	101
Others	867	102
Total	7,190	1,029

 

The number of people charged with fraud in each of the last five years is given in the following table:

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Fraud¹, 2002-03 to 2006-07

	Proceeded Against	Charge Proved
2002-03	1,604	1,459
2003-04	1,589	1,444
2004-05	1,516	1,355
2005-06	1,376	1,245
2006-07	1,379	1,178

Note: 1. Where fraud is the main offence.

It should be noted that identity theft offences are included within fraud offences and are not recorded separately.

Details on the progress of the Scottish Governments Simplification Programme can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Simplification-Tracker.

Accountable Officers are designated by the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government in his role as the Principal Accountable Officer for the Scottish Administration. As a general rule Accountable Officers are designated - either on a statutory or non-statutory basis - where the accounts of the public bodies concerned are laid before the Parliament for consideration. Accountable Officers are not designated for those public bodies that do not prepare accounts e.g. nearly all tribunal or advisory non-departmental public bodies.

A report on serious fraud was published on 13 May 2008 by Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMICS). The report made a number of recommendations aimed at improving how the police work with their partners to tackle serious fraud, which can include cases of identity theft.

One of the report''s recommendations was that the Scottish Government consult with stakeholders, including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), to make certain that legislation, process and interventions relating to fraud in Scotland are no less comprehensive or robust than they are elsewhere in the UK.

An ACPOS-led Working Group, which will include representatives of the Scottish Government, is being established to take forward all of the report''s recommendations.

It is an operational matter for the police and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to determine the priority they attach to investigating and prosecuting fraud, which includes identity theft.

Information on the number of employee jobs by industry is collected each year from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI), which is the official source of employee jobs data. Table 1 shows the number of employee jobs in the software industry. The most recent year for which data is available is 2006. The ABI does not include self-employed jobs.

This data is based on employee jobs rather than the number of people in employment (as one person may have more than one job). It does not include self-employed jobs.

Table 1: Employee Jobs in the Software Industry in Scotland, 1997 to 2006

Year	Number
1997	8,900
1998	10,100
1999	10,800
2000	16,700
2001	17,500
2002	16,700
2003	16,100
2004	19,600
2005	17,900
2006	16,300

Source: Annual Business Inquiry 1998 to 2006, Annual Employment Survey 1997.

Notes:

1. Data for 1997 and 2006 are not consistent with other years. The data for 1997 was sourced from an earlier survey than the ABI and the reference date for the ABI was changed in 2006.

2. Data are rounded to the nearest hundred.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring equal opportunities in sport for all. Support for sports clubs is primarily through the relevant governing body with whom sportscotland works closely to ensure that equitable procedures are in place through the adoption of an equity policy and support through the Equity Standard. Investment to governing bodies of sport is linked to the successful progression through the Equity Standard.

Where facility investment in concerned, sportscotland promotes an Open to All clause in an applicants constitution.

The Scottish Government has not formally discussed the issue of attendance at football matches with any of the football authorities.

Futureskills Scotland undertakes a biennial large scale survey of the skills needs of Scottish employers which supports the detailed sectoral labour market information and intelligence carried out by the Sector Skills Councils.

Scotland''s Further and Higher Education institutions also engage with employers on curriculum design, work placements and quality enhancement and are working to further ensure that employers are able to recruit graduates with a key base of work related core skills.

In addition, the national economic development agencies, Skills Development Scotland and the Business Gateway service work closely with employers to understand their needs.