Chamber and committees

The technical feasibility study, which was the first stage of the project, has been completed. The project will progress to detailed design when funding becomes available.

Scottish Government and Transport Scotland officials have been in regular discussion with stakeholders throughout the project.

The total cost of the scheme is estimated at approximately £6 million. This figure includes the cost of the technical feasibility study, estimated costs for completing detailed design and estimated costs of scheme construction.

Setting the Scene: A Map of Disabled Children in Scotland was published in December 2010 by the For Scotland''s Disabled Children Liaison project, which in developing the project consulted widely with stakeholders concerned with the children''s disability sector in Scotland. Setting the Scene lays out a range of data specific to Scottish disabled children and the services they and their families use, and is a live ongoing resource. Given the Scottish focus of this work the UK Government was not directly consulted, but is nonetheless aware of this work at official level.

Setting the Scene: A Map of Disabled Children in Scotland was published in December 2010 by the For Scotland''s Disabled Children Liaison project, which in developing the project consulted widely with stakeholders concerned with the children''s disability sector in Scotland. Setting the Scene lays out a range of data specific to Scottish disabled children and the services they and their families use, and is a live ongoing resource. There are no current plans to discuss the report with representatives of the UK Government.

My officials last met the Freight Transport Association on 26 January 2011 to discuss winter resilience, the Rosyth to Zeebrugge freight service and other matters of mutual interest.

Freight facilities grant (FFG) is a state aid. The scheme was therefore notified to the European Commission (EC) in 2001 and notice was received of the scheme''s compliance with the state aid rules later that year. The EC approval noted that the aid as proposed was proportional and that it did not unduly distort competition. We have ensured that funding distributed under the scheme has been consistent with the terms of the approval given by the EC. The application process obtains information about sources of financial assistance so that any additional state aid issues can be addressed during the application assessment process.

The following table shows the underspend in the FFG budget for the financial years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10.

FFG Budget and Spend (£ Million)

Year	Budget	Spent	Underspend
2007-081	12.9	2.2	10.9
2008-09	13.1	3.9	9.2
2009-101	13.1	0.7	12.8

Note: 1. Where projects do not deliver their commitments, recoveries are effected. £235,935 was recovered in 2007-08 and £407,594 in 2009-10.

The unused funds were managed as part of the Scottish Government financial outturn within its overall budgetary resources.

The freight facilities grant (FFG) is a state aid and the scheme required the approval of the European Commission. The scheme rules are the same across Great Britain. We, the Department for Transport and the Welsh Assembly Government held a joint review of the Freight Mode Shift Grant schemes over the period from summer 2007 to summer 2009. No changes were made to the freight facilities grant scheme as a result.

We have received representations from the following industry organisations either directly or through their MSPs:

Freight on Rail;

Ailsa Horizons Ltd;

Deltix;

Rail Freight Group;

Highland Spring Ltd ;

Freight Transport Association (FTA)*;

Ferguson Transport (Spean Bridge) Ltd;

Direct Rail Services Ltd (DRS), and

HITRANS.

Note: * Albatrans UK Ltd, Russell Logistics, The Erdington Group, The Malcolm Group, JF Hillebrand Scotland Ltd, Scottish Council for Development and Industry and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport were co-signatories of the FTA letter.

We have received representations from the following environmental organisations either directly or through their MSPs: Campaign for Better Transport and Transform Scotland.