Chamber and committees

Resurfacing of the A90 carriageway north of Stonehaven will be starting shortly and will be completed before the end of August, ahead of the major maintenance scheme on the northbound carriageway at Cannochmore, which is programmed to start in September this year.

The £30 million savings announced in the Justice budget by the Minister for Finance and Local Government on 28 June cover three financial years, 2001-02 (£5m), 2002-03 (£10m) and 2003-04 (£15m). These savings will be found from within two Level 3 budgets.Criminal Injuries Compensation - £6 million (£-/3m/3m)Miscellaneous - Other Miscellaneous - £24 million (£5m/7m/12m)These savings can be delivered without compromising any of the services provided by the Justice programme. On Criminal Injuries Compensation, the Home Office has projected a fall-off in the number of cases in the two forward years, thus releasing the savings identified. In the Miscellaneous category, the savings arise from unallocated provision which was previously identified to meet any costs arising from the incorporation of ECHR into domestic law. To date, this has proved unnecessary, as the provision in the areas directly concerned with ECHR, principally Courts, Police, Prisons and Legal Aid have had sufficient funding to cope with any increased costs arising from any challenges.

On new loans the budget makes provision to reflect estimated future write-offs for non-recovery and the difference between the cost of capital charge and the interest earned over the whole life of the loan. The data underpinning these estimates is reviewed on a regular basis. The most recent review indicates that the estimated provision should be at a rate 5% less than that previously calculated.

The changes in the accounting procedure for student loans have no application elsewhere in the budget.

The planning and delivery of health services, including the provision of equipment, is a matter primarily for Health Boards and NHS Trusts.

A review of the sleep apnoea service provided by the Sleep Centre in Edinburgh has recently been undertaken by Lothian Health Board and Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, with input from other Health Boards. On the basis of the review, discussions on the way forward are now taking place among the relevant Health Boards.

No.

Expenditure on Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is forecast using a computer model which takes account of existing commitments and the expected future flow of new cases, by financial year. The forecasting model operates on an aggregate basis, and does not project increases or decreases in expenditure by individual project.

However, as revised projected spend on a small number of very large cases can influence the accuracy of the forecasts such cases are reviewed on an individual basis. One such recent revision arose from the planned closure of Motorola's Easter Inch facility. Other projects will have been delayed - and others may have been advanced - but the forecasting model does not provide for detailed analysis.

The subject matter of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 is reserved to the UK Government and responsibility for authorisations under the Act rests with the Secretary of State.

The Scottish Executive intends to publish figures for the number of children recorded on child protection registers as at 31 March 2000 in October 2001.

Out-of-Hours Co-operatives are not directly funded by the Executive, an Out-of-Hours Development Fund (£5.742 million for 2001-02) is allocated to health boards to support improvements in out-of-hours services, including the development of out of hours co-operatives. G-DOCS and NHS Grampian are working closely together to ensure that out-of-hours services will continue to run effectively and efficiently in Grampian.