Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S2O-7713 on 29 September 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Since the A90 was upgraded todual carriageway we have continued investing in the route to enhance safety andmaintain reliable journey times between Central Scotland and Aberdeen. Wewill continue to identify further improvements, particularly in the area of roadsafety to meet our objectives and this is an area which will be considered as partof the Strategic Transport Projects Review process.

The Scottish Executive does notprovide grants to new onshore wind farm developments other than small scale communityprojects under the Scottish Communities and Householder Renewables Initiative. However,the Executive has agreed to provide £3 million to Talisman Energy and Scottishand Southern Energy to help construct an experimental offshore wind turbine demonstratorproject in the Moray Firth.

Many representations on thenorth east region have been made from MSPs representing Aberdeen constituencieswith regards to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

The operational management ofgrid capacity is a matter for the regulator (Ofgem) and the owners and operatorsof the electricity grid. The grid networks in Scotland are currently owned andoperated by Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power in their respectiveareas, whereas the transmission network operator is National Grid. The ScottishExecutive has discussions with these bodies on a regular basis.

The Forum for Renewable EnergyDevelopment is Scotland (FREDS) examined grid capacity, constraints and upgradesin its 2005 report, Scotland’s Renewable Energy: Realising The 2020 Target.The report found that the key upgrades for which Ofgem has approved funding couldallow the connection of 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of generation applications. The reportconcluded that these upgrades could accommodate 4.8GW of installed renewable capacity,over and above what is already installed and consented.

The Scottish ParliamentaryCorporate Body has chosen an image of the Parliament building for its 2006Christmas card design. In doing so we were guided by the past preferences ofmembers who buy the card, our equalities policy and the approach of other institutionswho choose to represent aspects of their iconic buildings.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-17707 on 19 July 2005. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website,the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The consultation exercisecarried out regarding the future of the prisons in the North East of Scotlandconcluded at the end of last year, and copies of the submissions received canbe viewed on the SPS website at www.sps.gov.uk.In addition, the Scottish Prison Service have recently written to the ChiefOfficers of Scotland’s eight CJAs to seek their views on the issuesraised in the consultation.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS approach on drugs isto reduce supply, reduce demand and reduce harm from drugs taken in prison, beforeor after, and to provide appropriate interventions for prisoners to help them overcometheir addictions.

The Draft Road Order for theAberdeen Western Peripheral Route and Stonehaven Fastlink and draft De-trunking Ordersare expected to be published in December 2006 together with the draft Side Roadsorders and draft Compulsory Purchase Order for the section north of Kingswells.The remaining draft Side Roads Orders and draft Compulsory Purchase Orders willbe published during 2007.

The Executive’s Rural CommunityTransport Initiative supports community transport services in areas where thereare no public transport services or where they are very limited.

All scheduled bus services whichare available to the general public participate in the Scotland-wide free bus travelscheme for older and disabled people. While the Executive has no plans at presentto extend the free bus travel scheme to include non-registered services such ascommunity transport, the operation of the scheme will be closely monitored overits first two years and changes will be considered in light of the evidence obtained.

This information is not heldcentrally.