Chamber and committees

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Women who fulfil the criteria for a Community Maternity Unit (CMU) birth are offered a choice of the Vale or the CMU in the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH). All women are offered the choice of delivery in the obstetric unit in RAH or Queen Mother''s Hospital.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15647 on 8 September 2008. All answers 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.

It is the responsibility of individual registered social landlords (RSLs) to ensure they strictly apply tenancy conditions and where necessary take action to stop antisocial behaviour.

We do not collect information about the application of tenancy conditions by RSLs. However, evidence from Scottish Government research, Use of Anti-social Behaviour Orders in Scotland, published in September 2008, suggests that RSLs are using a range of measures to address antisocial behaviour, including antisocial behaviour orders, antisocial behaviour contracts, down-grading of tenancies to a short Scottish secure tenancy and eviction. This research is available on the Scottish Government''s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/09/19160705/0.

To support social landlords to appropriately manage tenancies we have provided social landlords with model tenancy agreements for the Scottish secure tenancy and the short Scottish secure tenancy. These include a section entitled Respect for Others which sets out detailed behavioural conditions which tenants must meet. They also make clear that landlords can bring actions for eviction against tenants who have breached their tenancy conditions.

In addition, RSLs are regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator within a framework of nationally agreed performance standards, including standards relating to the management of antisocial behaviour. An RSL''s performance against these standards, and its responsiveness to its tenants, may form part of an inspection by the regulator.

There is no direct correlation in any given financial year between the cost of units approved and spend. Expenditure in any given year will pay for a range of costs associated with projects approved in previous years, projects approved in the current year and costs to acquire sites for development in future years. Targets for approvals and completions for 2008-09 are achievable with the funds available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13862 on 18 June 2008.

Allocations for cycling projects from the sustainable and active travel budget line have been made for 2008-09 only. This year £6.58 million will be allocated to cycling projects. In addition, £9 million will be awarded to local authorities for cycling, walking and safer streets projects. It is up to local authorities to spend accordingly on local priorities.

All answers 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.

We are working very closely with Forth Ports to identify an alternative commercial operator for the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service. There have been constructive discussions with potential operators. These discussions are continuing as we look to find a commercial solution.

As stated in Parliament on 5 March 2008, the Borders Railway will be funded via open procurement seeking private funding through the Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model. In addition Scottish Borders, Midlothian and City of Edinburgh councils have agreed to contribute a total of £30 million to the project.

A record level of resources of over £1.5 billion has been committed from the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) over the next three years. This is sufficient to deliver the units planned if efficiencies are achieved. Efficiencies in the level of grant per unit are anticipated as a consequence of the changes recently made to the Housing Association Grant (HAG) financial assumptions. In the longer term the implementation of the proposed Housing Investment Reform project should generate further efficiencies. It should be noted that the target unit approvals and actual spend in any given financial year do not correlate directly as units approved in any given year may only spend a proportion of the grant allocation in that year with the remainder being carried forward to subsequent years.

The Scottish Government is concerned about the impact of rising fuel costs on rural communities and on businesses where fuel represent a significant cost burden and on the wider economy.

Ministers have written to the UK Government seeking action to try to minimise the impact of the rises. In particular we have asked the UK Government to introduce differential fuel duty rates for rural areas, and pressed for the introduction of a fuel duty regulator to protect against high fuel prices. We have also introduced a Road Equivalent Tariff pilot study in October 2008 to investigate the introduction of affordable ferry services that will facilitate the social and economic wellbeing of the communities served.

No such assessment has been made.