Discover how we’re measuring success and reporting on the strategy impact on the historic environment
Monitoring and reporting are essential for the success of our sector-wide strategy. They allow us to track progress, ensure accountability, and make informed decisions based on data and insights. By regularly assessing our efforts, we can identify gaps, address challenges, and continuously improve our approach.
We will be updating these pages regularly to keep everyone informed about progress towards achieving the strategy’s aims.
To report on the delivery of the strategy, the national strategy team are actively monitoring and assessing activity and state of the historic environment sector. Our approach blends research, case studies, and quantitative and qualitative insights to provide a picture of where we stand. Progress in achieving the strategy’s aims will be assessed against a range of indicators and success criteria.
Some of the team’s initial findings have been published in the Baseline Report, which offers an in-depth assessment of the current state of Scotland's historic environment in the first year of the national strategy. It also includes information about the indicators we will use to measure progress against each outcome, as well as highlighting some of the data gaps we’d like to tackle.
Download and read the Baseline Report
The historic environment generates £6bn per annum for Scotland’s economy, £2.1bn of that which is attributable to heritage tourism.
Scotland’s Historic Environment Audit (SHEA) is a holistic assessment of our historic environment, providing statistics on heritage assets and their evolution over time. It brings together research and data into one place, making it easy to understand how the sector contributes to life in Scotland.
The most recent SHEA was published in September 2024. This update provides valuable insights into the sector’s evolution, particularly in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will update on interim strategy progress via an Annual Report which tracks progress and highlights activities and actions which have taken place across all priorities, summarising achievements, progress towards achieving the strategies aims and areas for future focus.
The first Annual report was published in September 2024 and provides an overview of the first year of activity since the strategy’s publication.
Scotland will achieve net-zero emissions by 2045. Find out how the historic environment will contribute to this target.
Discover how people and communities are at the heart of Scotland's historic environment.
Understand how our historic environment can help current and future generations to live well and our local places to thrive.