Chamber and committees

I have seen the article concerned and the suggestion that the Scottish Executive favours Troon over Loch Ryan as a port for ferry services to Northern Ireland is wholly without foundation.

Final decisions on the permanent composition of the board will be informed by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee's inquiry into SQA governance and the outcome of the Policy, Financial and Management Review.

I announced on 22 November the composition of a group which will monitor the Scottish Qualifications Authority's progress on implementing the recommendations in the Deloitte and Touche report. This group will involve representation from parents.

Grant-in-aid from the Scottish Executive to the SRA in support of the Scottish passenger rail franchise will be subject to appropriate systems of audit and accountability.

The publication of the Scottish Executive's consultation document Strategic Priorities for Scotland's Passenger Railway provides a major opportunity for all those interested in the development of Scotland's railway network to express their aspirations.

Sections 1.4 and 0 3.6 of the paper outline ways in which the Scottish Executive and the railway industry in Scotland should engage with those proposing rail developments.

The Scottish Executive will seek to ensure through a new Scottish passenger rail franchise that the rolling stock for rural services will be of a high standard.

The Scottish Executive has no function in relation to the condition inserted in BT's licence that mandates local loop unbundling. However, the Executive holds discussions with the UK Government and other organisations, including OFTEL as necessary. The Executive also has regular meetings with BT Scotland on a range of issues, including local loop unbundling. We anticipate that the effect of local loop unbundling for Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, will be a significant increase in the level of competition in the marketplace, resulting in more choice, improved services and reduced costs for residential and business customers.

Under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, a road (which by definition is any way over which there is a public right of passage) can either be a public road or a private road. If it is a public road, responsibility for managing and maintaining it rests with the relevant local authority and it will be included on a list of roads which the authority is required to keep under this Act. Where a road is private, and thus unadopted by the local authority, responsibility for its maintenance rests with the owners of any land or property situated alongside the road (the frontagers).

Details relating to the ownership of land, including unadopted roads, are contained in the property registers administered by the Registers of Scotland Executive Agency.

Since the franchise was let in April 1997, ScotRail has reported an eight million increase (15%) in annual passenger journeys (53.4 million in April 1997 to 61.4 million in September 2000). There has been a significant number of service enhancements across the Scottish network. Some, like the introduction of the 15 minute interval service between Edinburgh and Glasgow (leading to a 23% increase in passengers during the first year of operation), are franchise commitments. Others, such as additional services on the Nith Valley line, have been the consequence of commercial decisions made by the company. In addition, the Scottish Executive has provided revenue support to Fife Council to secure an increase of 300 seats at the morning peak on the Fife Circle.

The Scottish Executive has outlined its understanding of what it considers to be the advantages of passenger rail transport in part three of its consultation document Strategic Priorities for Scotland's Passenger Railway.

The Post Office and postal services are reserved matters for the UK Government, although the Executive recognises the important role which post offices play in communities across Scotland, and in particular in rural areas.

The Executive is keen to encourage innovative approaches to service provision in rural areas, including post office services, and has asked a sub-group of the Scottish National Rural Partnership to investigate this issue. I expect to receive the group's report shortly.

I am aware that the Post Office is continually seeking to identify new opportunities to increase the number of transactions across its counters, and is already offering a number of additional services, including banking services. We welcome the progress being made, and encourage the Post Office to continue its efforts to attract additional business. With regard to the sale of travel tickets, while it is for transport operators to decide who should act as ticket agents, the Executive would welcome any initiatives which make the advance purchase of travel tickets more readily available.