The Scottish Government

Title

Proportion of Scottish adult population making visits to the outdoors.

National Indicator/Target

To increase the proportion of adults making one or more visits to the outdoors per week.

Brief Description

Enjoyment of the outdoors as part of everyday life can provide a range of benefits including better health and well-being and improved quality of life. It can also contribute to sustainable travel, provide opportunities for people to come into contact with nature and deliver economic benefits. These figures can provide a broad indication of the percentage of adults resident in Scotland who may gain enjoyment from nature, biodiversity and physical activity in the outdoors.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

GREENER.

The indicator informs progress towards a Greener Scotland by capturing public use of the outdoors, as measured by frequency of use of the outdoors. Meeting the target will require working with Scottish Natural Heritage who have responsibility for facilitating public enjoyment of the natural heritage and promoting awareness and understanding of the right of responsible access and with local access authorities who have a lead responsibility for the local implementation of access rights.

HEALTHIER

The indicator, at a broader level, also informs progress towards a Healthier Scotland by capturing recreation and physical activity.

WEALTHIER AND FAIRER

Also at a broader level, the indicator informs progress towards a Wealthier and Fairer Scotland by capturing tourist activity.

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

Adults are people resident in Scotland aged over 16.

Outdoors is defined as "open spaces in the

countryside as well as in towns and cities such as woodland, parks, farmland, paths, beaches etc.".

Visits are defined as "trips could either have been from home or while you were away from home on holiday, provided the holiday was in Scotland."

Evidence Source

The Scottish Recreation Survey is a monthly survey of a demographically representative sample of around 1,000 adults (16 and over) living in Scotland, using face to face Computer Assisted Personal Interview hardware. It is undertaken by Scottish Natural Heritage. The participants in the survey are asked to indicate how often they had visited the outdoors for leisure and recreation during the last 12 months. The indicator is the percentage of those who responded with frequencies of at least once per week.

Baseline and Past Trends

The baseline is the percentage for respondents to the Scottish Recreation Survey in calendar year 2006. (Not yet published.)

Methodology

The estimate is a percentage based on the number responding to the question throughout the year.

The survey is a quota sample and as such error estimates are approximate. It is estimated that the estimate based on 12 months data will generally be accurate to around +/-1% at the 95% confidence interval.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

Data is provided from questions included in a consumer omnibus survey (Scottish Opinion Survey) run by TNS under a contract to Scottish Natural Heritage. NS status is being considered.

Publication of Data

Results are published on the SNH website at:

http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/comm-reports/srs_10.asp#3

The annual report is published each year.