Chamber and committees

The Clyde Tunnel is a local road. As such it is the responsibility of Glasgow City Council as the local roads authority for the area. This is, therefore, a matter for the council to address.

This is a matter for Scottish Water. Its Chief Executive's response is as follows:Delays in construction resulting from planning are specifically excluded from the contract for the Katrine Water Project, with all consequential costs falling to Scottish Water.However, all other risks in delays in construction are the subject of a contractual agreement between Scottish Water and the contractor, Stirling Water, about which I am not permitted to comment.

This is a matter for Scottish Water. Their Chief Executive's response is as follows: Records inherited from West of Scotland Water show that one member of staff at director level or above left the organisation to join Thames Water in the past 12 months. This was the former Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water Authority, Charles Cornish.

Current permanent employees are expected to be given a choice of remaining in Consignia in another role or taking a voluntary redundancy package. Support will be provided to any Consignia employees becoming redundant through dedicated local response teams already in place under the Executive's PACE framework. This will ensure a rapid response in terms of retraining/upskilling and advice on employment opportunities. These workers will have early access to Training for Work and Jobcentre Plus programmes.

Affordability of rail fares on services provided by ScotRail was addressed in the Executive's consultation document, Strategic Priorities for Scotland's Passenger Railway, in relation to the refranchising process. Free off-peak local bus travel for elderly and disabled people will be introduced on 1 October. Subsidies to contain the level of fares are also provided through the Rural Transport Fund, and our support for lifeline air and ferry services in the Highlands and Islands.

Allocations for local authorities and housing associations have not yet been finalised for this year because they are still completing the programme for 2001-02. It is therefore not possible to provide the information requested for the West Dunbartonshire local authority area. Eaga administer the programme for the private sector but do not collect information by local authority area. However, Eaga's current budget will benefit some 4,600 owner-occupiers and private sector tenants across Scotland in 2002-03.

This is a question for Scottish Water. The Chief Executive's response is:Three agreements were signed between the West of Scotland Water and Thames Water.On 3 August 2001 Stirling Water Ltd was appointed by West of Scotland Water as one of four Strategic Partners to help West of Scotland Water deliver its Capital Investment Programme in the period 2002-06. The constituent parties of Stirling Water are MJ Gleeson, Thames Water and Montgomery Watson. The Form of Agreement for this contract was signed on 20 March 2002 with full agreement by the prospective management of Scottish Water.As part of West of Scotland Water's drive to achieve efficiencies in its working practices, two consultancy agreements were entered into with Thames Water in April 2001. These agreements were in relation to the management services and technical services elements of our Capital Efficiency Project.The contract for the Katrine Water Project was signed between the West of Scotland Water and the MJ Gleeson Group Ltd, the lead member of the Stirling Water consortium, on 18 October 2000. No contract was signed with Thames Water or its subsidiaries. Thames Water are one of the subcontractors to MJ Gleeson.

(a) The Scottish Executive Core departments currently employ 4,290 people; (b) Executive Agencies currently employ 9,432 people, and (c) The number of staff employed in non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally.

The report for the 2005 and 2010 plans for the three corridors will be submitted to the Executive at the end of this month. Plans for 2020 will be submitted later in the year.

The effects would result in a positive impact but the evidence suggests that this would not be to any significant or quantifiable extent. The existing rail service is already faster and more reliable than the car for journeys between the city centres. Further improvements in the service will benefit the existing public transport users but are unlikely to lead to a significant shift in the number of travellers from car to public transport.