Chamber and committees

Prices of rail passenger tickets for single and return journeys at peak periods on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk High route are lower than the majority of prices on rail routes between other cities in the United Kingdom a similar distance apart.

No discussion took place on the fare level of any specific rail route as part of the overall discussions over the extension of the ScotRail rail franchise. However, the Franchise Amendment Agreement contains an initiative to create pilot fares schemes designed to encourage modal shift to train. These schemes will also help to evaluate the impact of interventions in fares policy.

In Clydebank 36 units of low-cost home ownership, which were given approval in February 2007, were under construction during 2007-08, and were completed in May 2008. In Milngavie another project of 26 units of amenity housing for older people was approved in March 2007 and is due to complete early in 2009.

The following table outlines how much funding local authorities have been allocated for cycling, walking and safer streets (CWSS) projects in 2008-09. The signing of the single outcome agreements has had no impact on the level of funding allocation for CWSS projects.

Local Authority	2008-09 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City	0.365
Aberdeenshire	0.412
Angus	0.191
Argyll and Bute	0.163
Clackmannanshire	0.086
Dumfries and Galloway	0.262
Dundee City	0.249
East Ayrshire	0.212
East Dunbartonshire	0.191
East Lothian	0.170
East Renfrewshire	0.165
Edinburgh, City of	0.818
Eilean Siar	0.045
Falkirk	0.267
Fife	0.639
Glasgow City	1.021
Highland	0.374
Inverclyde	0.146
Midlothian	0.149
Moray	0.154
North Ayrshire	0.241
North Lanarkshire	0.579
Orkney	0.034
Perth and Kinross	0.247
Renfrewshire	0.304
Scottish Borders	0.196
Shetland	0.040
South Ayrshire	0.199
South Lanarkshire	0.544
Stirling	0.160
West Dunbartonshire	0.164
West Lothian	0.303
Total	9.090

 

An up-to-date assessment of the costs of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route will be carried out as part of the procurement process.

No such assessment has been made.

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.

The new traffic management arrangements at the Forth Road Bridge came into effect at the end of May 2008. It is therefore too early to make any realistic assessment of the journey time impacts of the abolition of tolls. We will continue to work with the Forth Estuary Transport Authority to monitor traffic flows across the bridge, and to see how any impacts arising directly from the abolition of tolls might be addressed.

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.

Households currently not having their applications processed under the priority arrangements announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 are:

Under-80s with a systems that has broken down, who are not in receipt of the guaranteed element of pension credit;

Those aged 60 to 79 with a partial or inefficient system, who are in receipt of the guaranteed element of pension credit, and

Over-80s with a partial or inefficient system.

All householders who were eligible for the central heating programme before the Cabinet Secretary''s announcement of 22 May 2008 remain eligible under the regulations.

Scottish Government officials, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Executive, are currently in the process of considering a draft report prepared by the consultants appointed to undertake this appraisal work. When the final report becomes available, ministers in Scotland and Northern Ireland will consider the costs and benefits associated with the proposed service, and will reach a decision about the way forward.