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The information requested is not held centrally.

Delivery of education is devolved to local authorities and funding for this is included in the local government settlement. It is for education authorities to consider the provision of outdoor education in their areas and make arrangements with providers as necessary, in addition to any facilities that they may operate. They are locally elected and accountable for such decisions.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Information from inspection activities suggest that most primary schools provide children with an opportunity to experience a residential outdoor education experience at some point during primary school - most typically during P6 or P7 in which almost all young people participate. Most secondary schools provide young people with an opportunity for at least one residential stay of some description during secondary school but this might not be a traditional outdoor education type experience. Inspections suggest that opportunities for outdoor learning in secondary schools such as participation in the John Muir Award and Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Programmes are increasing and support the drive for greater opportunity for and recognition of wider achievement enshrined within the expectations of Curriculum for Excellence.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Information on audiology services is collected on an aggregated form. Consequently, it is not possible to provide the information requested. However, information on the median wait for first appointment with a specialist is provided in the following table.

Waiting time information for audiology services is relatively new data and is currently still under development. As the information collection system is fairly new there are data quality issues around this information and figures should be treated with caution. ISD is working with all NHS boards to improve data quality.

NHSscotland: Median Wait for First Appointment with a Specialist for the Quarters Ending March, June, September and December 2010

NHS Board	March (weeks)	June (weeks)	September (weeks)	December (weeks)
Ayrshire and Arran	8	7	6	9
Borders	11	6	6	9
Dumfries and Galloway	1	3	7	12
Fife	10	8	7	7
Forth Valley	13	x	22	24
Grampian	6	7	7	7
Greater Glasgow and Clyde(a)	6	5	5	6
Highland(b)	x	11	11	12
Lanarkshire(c)	0	1	6	4
Lothian	x	x	x	5
Orkney	1	2	2	3
Shetland	4	4	8	7
Tayside(d)	x	24	23	25
Western Isles(e)	x	x	0	15

Source: ISD Scotland.

x data not available.

Notes:

(a) Clyde data is not available for January 2010 and July to December 2010 due to system issues.

(b) Data cleansing is ongoing, please treat with caution. Paediatric figures not available for April.

(c) Data cleansing is ongoing, please treat with caution. Adult figures not available for April 2010.

(d) Paediatric figures not available for April 2010.

(e) Provides Audiology services for adults only.

I understand that results from this Scottish Natural Heritage indicator for 2009 and 2008 are not directly comparable with those from 2002 because it was not possible in that analysis to take account of topography, i.e. Scotland was treated as a flat surface. Technological advances in 2008 enabled topography to be incorporated in the analysis and to produce a more realistic map. At the same time, the distances over which structures were assumed to exert visual influence were reviewed to give a more realistic measure of visual impact.

However, changes in the method have had little effect on the overall extent of visual influence. Replicating the original, i.e. the 2002, method for 2008 gave a result of 30.97% of Scotland unaffected by built development whereas the improved method gave a closely similar result of 31.17% (0.2% difference). A minor revision between 2008 and 2009 was that it became possible to incorporate individual turbine location data in place of a single central point location for wind farms. This has a negligible effect on the indicator results.

Since the closure of Kinross Visitor Information Centre in 2008, the last such closure in the region, VisitScotland, and Perth and Kinross Council, have continued to review the provision of visitor information services across the region. Both are in agreement that the current provision meets demand within the resources available.

Current provision of visitor information services in the area is provided through VisitScotland Information Centres, Information Points and Partnerships. Together these provide a variety of local knowledge and regional publications; as well as various eMedia solutions such as the VisitPerthshire website and the new national iPhone app.

The Scottish Government welcomes the discussion and debate in the European Parliament about the contribution that Europe''s wild areas make to safeguarding biodiversity. In contrast to Scotland''s wilder landscapes, some of which show the imprint of past generations, some continental areas are wilderness in the true sense of the word “ including relatively pristine forests in Eastern Europe. A Scottish approach to the issues raised by the resolution is therefore appropriate.

We have commissioned research exploring approaches to the management of wild land elsewhere in Europe and are considering the results of this study. In the meantime Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is currently undertaking further work on the definition and mapping of wildness and wild land areas. We will consider the results of this when it is completed.

The Scottish Government will keep under review progress on the resolution in discussion with SNH.

The Leeds University, Wildland Research Institute report Review of the Status and Conservation of Wild Land in Europe is a useful contribution to the debate on wild land following on from the European Parliament resolution of February 2009 calling for special status and stricter protection for wilderness zones in Europe and the Natura 2000 network. The research examined approaches to the management of wild land elsewhere in Europe comparable to that found in Scotland with a view to identifying lesson from their experiences relevant to the future care of wild land in Scotland.

A key recommendation of the report is for the identification of wild land areas so that these may be safeguarded. Scottish Natural Heritage''s (SNH) wildness mapping project will give a more detailed view of the extent and location of relative wildness than the current indicative search areas of wild land. The new maps will inform revisions to SNH''s guidance and advice regarding wild land in Scotland.

There are no annual statistics produced specifically for the natural heritage sector. However, some analysis has been undertaken in reports commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Government, although each report looks at different aspects of the natural heritage contribution. The details are as follows:

Report name	Published	Estimated Contribution	Number of Jobs
SNH Commissioned Report 72: The role of the natural heritage in generating and supporting employment opportunities in Scotland	2004	£2.2 billion	93,000
Valuing our Environment - The Economic Impact of Scotland''s Natural Environment (SNH)	2008	£17.2 billion	242,000
SNH Commissioned Report 398: Assessing the value of nature based tourism in Scotland	2010	£1.4 billion	39,000
The Economic Impact of Wildlife Tourism in Scotland (Scottish Govt)	2010	£64 million	2,760

 

Copies of the reports can be found on the following web links:

http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/detail.asp?id=489

http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/detail.asp?id=1035

http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/detail.asp?id=1548

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/05/12164456/0.