Chamber and committees

The Scottish Governmentprovides funding to Road Safety Scotland for the development of road safety educationresources and publicity messages. Details of Road Safety Scotland’s budget for 2007-08,showing a breakdown of expenditure, can be accessed at www.srsc.org.uk/about/ar_bp_07-08.asp.

Future resources forRoad Safety Scotland will be dependent on the outcome of the current Strategic SpendingReview.

Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Governmentusing the Stats 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police. Thereturns do not cover damage-only accidents or accidents of which the police areunaware because they were not reported by the public.

The specificationof the Stats 19 returns includes a code which the police can use to identify asnon-UK residents any drivers or riders, of vehicles involved in reported accidents,whose homes are outwith the UK. However, this information is not availablein all cases - for example, the police will have no knowledge of the areas of residenceof hit and run drivers. The true number of foreign motorists involved in accidentswill therefore be higher than would appear from the Stats 19 data, and the truenumber of accidents involving foreign motorists will therefore be higher than thefigures given in the following table.

Reported InjuryRoad Accidents which Involved Motor Vehicle Drivers or Riders who were Coded inthe Stats 19 Returns as being Non-UK Residents

Year	Accidents
2002	104
2003	103
2004	105
2005	116
2006	97

 

On average, therefore,about 105 accidents per year involved a foreign motorist. Over the same period,there were on average 13,713 reported injury road accidents per year (as shown intable 8 of Key 2006 Road Accident Statistics, published in June 2007 by the Scottish Executive, copies of which are available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib number 42962)). The proportion of reported injury road accidentswhich involved a foreign motorist is therefore about 0.008 (i.e. 0.8%).

No major transportproject has been considered for approval or funding since September 2003 withoutthe appropriate appraisal being in place.

The projectedcost of Scotland Wide Free Bus Travel for Older and Disabled People is £163 millionin 2007-08 as reflected in the 2007-08 Draft Budget. Spending plans for2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years will be determined as part of the currentspending review process SSR07.

The projectedcost of the ferry element of the scheme is £0.73 million in 2007-08.

I have been examiningall seven Regional Transport Strategies in detail. They are complex documents thatdeserve careful consideration. I wish to take further time before making my viewsknown.

The cost ofadministering the Scotland-wide concessionary travel scheme for older and disabledpeople was £4.163 million in the financial year 2006-07 (the first year ofoperation of the scheme). This figure represents 2.59% of the budget for the schemefor the same period.

Data from anefficient government savings exercise revealed total Scottish local authorityexpenditure on administering the local concessionary travel schemes to be£8.487 million in 2004-05. This figure represents 5.28% of the budget for theScotland-wide concessionary travel scheme for older and disabled people.

There arecurrently around one millionScottish residents with a valid national entitlement cards allowing them toaccess Scotland wide free bus travel for older and disabled people.

There arecurrently 1.2 million people eligible for the bus and ferry scheme, and of thisone million people are making three million journeys per week.

There were noextensions to eligibility for Scotland-wide free bus travel for older and disabledpeople or to the ferry element of the scheme during 2006-07.

Strategic DevelopmentPlan Authorities (SDPAs) are not proposed to be freestanding corporate bodies, butwill consist of a joint committee of members representing the constituent planningauthorities.

The current consultationpaper on statutory guidance for SDPAs recommends the establishment of small dedicatedteams of officials to service the committee and to prepare and review the strategicdevelopment plan. These teams will require permanent offices, which thegovernment would wish to see provided in the most cost effective way. Although theguidance suggests that neutral location be considered, that should be necessaryin limited cases.

Further views on thesematters may be received in the course of the current consultation and will be consideredbefore the guidance is finalised.

The Scottish BroadcastingCommission will conduct an examination into the current state of the broadcastingindustries in Scotland and will make recommendations for methodsby which greater success might be achieved. In these respects, the commission willbe concerned with economic development and the cultural and democratic aspects ofbroadcasting in Scotland. The commission may make recommendations for action bythe Scottish ministers or by other persons. The commission may also identify mattersthat it believes should be considered further by the Scottish Parliament.