Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22810 on 8 May 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Transport Scotland has arranged and met with all directly affected landowners.

Through residents'' associations and community council meetings, Transport Scotland has sought to address concerns raised by residents. These meetings will be on-going throughout the project.

In addition, Transport Scotland has met with concerned people living near the proposed Forth Replacement Crossing at public exhibitions held in August 2007 and January 2009 following key developments with the project. 4,465 people registered their attendance at the August 2007 exhibitions and over 2,200 people attended the exhibitions held this January.

Decisions on key transport projects are informed using the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). One of the five criteria appraised in STAG is environment, which includes an assessment of the change in physical carbon emissions.

Carbon emissions from the transport sector as a whole are calculated using the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI). For individual schemes, road emissions are calculated using NAEI formulae whilst rail emissions are calculated using the Strategic Rail Authority''s Rail Emission Model.

The Scottish Council of Economic Advisors has not discussed the Borders Railway project.

The Scottish Government is working towards cutting CO₂ emissions from key transport projects as outlined in the Government Economic Strategy, National Transport Strategy and the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR).

The following table details the emissions associated with the projects where construction has not yet commenced and which are due to be delivered before the implementation of the STPR.

Route	Project Name	Estimated Carbon Dioxide Emissions* (tonnes p.a.) Unless Otherwise Stated	Assessment Year
A77	Park End to Bennane	3	2008
M74	Raith Interchange	10,000	2020
A9	Crubenmore Extension	251	2022
A96	Fochabers to Mosstodloch	171	2020
M8	Baillieston to Newhouse	30,000	2020
M8	Associated Network Improvements	1,600	2010
A75	Dunragit Bypass	3,670	2022
A9	Kincraig to Dalraddy	45	2023
A90	Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route	36,700	2025
A77	Symington and Bogend Toll	121	2024
A90	Balmedie to Tipperty	2,137	2010
	Forth Replacement Crossing	-23,000	2017
Rail	Glasgow Airport Rail Link	-2,000	2014
Rail	Borders Railway	Cumulative decreases of -74,000 -238,000 -415,000	2030 2050 2070
Rail	Edinburgh “ Glasgow (Rail) Improvements Programme	-20,000 annually with cumulative savings of -1,181, 000	2075
Rail	Edinburgh Tram Line 1a	+98,000 +177,000	2011 2031

Note: *The emission estimates within this table are forecast increases in carbon dioxide emissions with the project compared to without the project in a given future assessment year. These estimates have been calculated using a variety of methodologies and, consequently, it is not statistically valid to aggregate the individual figures or directly compare them with one another. Environmental impacts from infrastructure projects are taken from the latest published estimates. In most cases, this will be the carbon estimate contained in the specific Environmental Statement (ES). Some projects may not yet have undergone a formal Environmental Statement; where this is the case the carbon estimate is taken from the environmental chapter of the STAG Appraisal report.

The In Care Survivors Service Scotland, a government-funded support service for adults who suffered childhood abuse in care and their families, which was set up in November 2008 is required as part of its contract to report on numbers of calls received to Scottish Government on a six-monthly basis. The first such report is therefore not yet available. However, we understand that the service has dealt with around 350 calls to date.

Drafting of the Action Plan is at an advanced stage and we anticipate that it will be submitted to the Public Procurement Reform Board for consideration and acceptance within the next month. Once it has been accepted, we will then be in a position to publish it.

The Scottish Government is producing the action plan to assist the public sector to understand what sustainable procurement is, why it is important and how to go about achieving it. Consultation has taken place with all key stakeholders and relevant policy areas within the Scottish Government, and we have used events such as the Procurex conference, Scottish Sustainable Network conference, The Scottish Sustainable Network Working Group on Sustainable Procurement meetings and the Association of Public Service Excellence conference to discuss the plan with interested parties.

While part of the remit of the In Care Survivors Service Scotland is to provide an advocacy and signposting service on accessing the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and other relevant legal services, it was not set up to provide legal support to help survivors take their cases through the courts. Survivors can, however, be supported by staff to access legal representation and to attend court.

There are no plans to review the remit of the In Care Survivors Service Scotland. In accepting the recommendations of independent expert Tom Shaw, the Scottish Government agreed to set up a national hub to provide advocacy, mediation and counselling services to survivors of in-care abuse.

The remit of the service was developed and agreed by a subgroup made up of survivors and representatives from the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW), the Scottish Institute For Residential Child Care (SIRCC) and the Scottish Government''s health and education departments. While part of the remit of the service is to provide an advocacy and signposting service on accessing the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and other relevant legal services, it was not set up to provide legal support to survivors.