Hansard

No, it will not. The Labour Party’s amendment raises concerns about the spend in the area. I reassure members that Historic Scotland’s front-line services will not be impacted. It is driving through efficiencies in the organisation and, more important, it is growing income from other sources. The spending review does not contain information on how Historic Scotland is helping to support its continuing spend by growing its income from other areas.

We have made a commitment to digitally record not only the five international world heritage sites, but all of the 345 properties that are in the care of the Scottish ministers. That answers Ruth Davidson’s point. The records can be used for conservation, education and interpretation. Scotland will be the first country in the world to digitally document its national collection of monuments in 3D.

The experience that will be delivered by the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland at Bannockburn in time for the 700th anniversary of the battle in 2014 will push the boundaries of the technology. A digital survey of the battlefield will be combined with 3D motion capture and visualisation to bring the battle and participants to life. The team hopes to virtually investigate elements of the battle, such as what exactly happens when a mounted knight in full battle armour meets a tight schiltron formation of Scots spearmen. That will certainly give a new insight and will bring alive something that people might have in their imagination.

In addition to our fabulous historic buildings, Scotland has an immense wealth of historic artefacts and archive materials. Our libraries, archives, museums and galleries are fully embracing the new digital age. The National Library of Scotland has already digitised more than 1 million pages, and has an impressive digital gallery of photographs and maps. The National Galleries of Scotland has a rolling programme of creating digital images of the national collection of fine art and publishing its artworks online; it has also developed mobile phone apps. National Museums Scotland has digitised more than 18,000 objects and images and is now delivering online records via its website. Museums Galleries Scotland has a digital advice service for its members, which offers free best practice advice on all aspects of digital activity.

The Labour Party has singled out three organisations by name in its amendment, but I have been able to protect cultural organisations from the worst excesses of the Westminster cuts, which were originally planned by Labour and which have now been implemented by the Conservatives. As RCAHMS is mentioned in the amendment, I assure members that it has no cash cut. The census activity of the National Records of Scotland is clearly not at previous levels, so it has a significant budget reduction. As I said, Historic Scotland is making substantial efficiencies and is growing its income from other sources and so is less reliant on Government, while commitments to grants for regeneration work will continue.

One of the most important uses of the resources is in support of teachers in their education of our children. In 2009, I launched Scotland’s history, an online resource that is produced by Learning and Teaching Scotland with support from Historic Scotland and our national collections. Scotland’s history, which is now called studying Scotland, charts 5,000 years of life in Scotland, which can be explored through images, text, audio, video, interactive documents and high-quality internet links, bringing history alive in the classroom.

The National Records of Scotland holds historical records that cover 900 years of Scottish history, from the 12th century up to the present. That is a unique resource for the study of family and social history in Scotland. We are exploiting digital technologies to make those records accessible throughout Scotland and the world.

ScotlandsPeople is a world-leading service that is provided by National Records of Scotland and which gives direct, paying access to a wide range of records for more than 80 million Scots. Digital technologies make that information available online at a must-visit centre in Edinburgh and through a growing number of local authorities throughout Scotland. The website currently has almost 1 million subscribers, and it had more than 4 million visits in 2010-11.

National Records of Scotland is working to expand the ScotlandsPeople service through encouraging local authorities to develop more local centres for family history and adding new material to the databases. By combining remote access to national datasets, local archives and the local knowledge of registrars, archivists, librarians and others, those centres can provide a resource to attract our diaspora visitors out of Edinburgh to visit other parts of Scotland.