- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by central and local government on new port and terminal infrastructure at (a) Dunoon, (b) Kirkwall, (c) Aberdeen, (d) Scrabster, (e) Stromness and (f) Lerwick since 2000; whether it regards this expenditure as part of the subsidy provided to state-owned ferry operators, and whether the European Commission has been notified of such expenditure in response to its enquiries about subsidies to state-owned ferry operators received in late May 2007.
Answer
The financial informationrequested is as follows:
| Harbour | SE Grant Paid Since 2000 (£ Million) | LA Funding (£ Million) |
| Dunoon* | 4.500 | 0.565 |
| Kirkwall (Hatston)/Stromness** | 17.990 | 5.314 |
| Aberdeen | 0.554*** | Nil |
| Scrabster | 20.063 | Nil |
| Lerwick | 1.537 | Nil |
Notes:
*A further £0.135 million was contributedby HITRANS.
**Developments at Hatston and Stromnesswere treated as a single project for grant purposes.
***Costsshown represent payments made to date. Total grant estimated as £2.473 milliononce all project claims have been received.
Those contributionshave enabled harbour authorities to continue to provide relevant berthing facilitiesand it would therefore not be appropriate to regard this as part of subsidies thathave been paid to ferry operators for the provision of lifeline ferry services.These expenditure details have not been notified to the European Commission as aconsequence of its current enquiries into ferry operations in Scotland, or on other occasions. Indeed, we note that the Commission’sdecision Number N503/2005 in respect of the development of the Great Yarmouth OuterHarbour makes it clear that such financial contributions towards maritime infrastructuredoes not constitute State aid.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, when options were prepared in 2004 for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, what the relative costs were of the (a) Murtle, (b) Pitfodels, (c) Miltimber Brae, (d) Peterculter/Charleston and (e) Peterculter/Stonehaven routes.
Answer
(a) £210 million to£280 million
(b) £245 million to£335 million
(c) £265 million to£365 million
(d) £270 million to£370 million
(e) £295 million to£405 million.
All costs are predictedout-turn costs at time of completion of each option.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive on what legal basis the Air Discount Scheme is regarded as being not discriminatory against shipping operators.
Answer
The Air Discount Scheme(ADS) was approved by the European Commission as Aid of a Social Character. It isnot a subsidy to airlines, but instead provides for discounted fares to individualscheme members.
As a measure to facilitatesocial inclusion, the purpose of the ADS is to make air travel more affordable forresidents of the most peripheral parts of the Highlands and Islands.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the context of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s statement on the objectives of the Audit Scotland review when he said “My priority is to protect the Scottish taxpayer and ensure that any major transport project is value for money, delivering real benefit to the travelling public and the Scottish economy. I want to be absolutely sure about the calculation of the costs involved in these projects, and the assessment of risk involved, before they progress any further”, he is now absolutely sure about the calculation of the costs and assessment of risk involved in the M74 completion project.
Answer
The M74 project iscurrently being tendered. We expect to award the contract later this year but willonly do so if the bid demonstrates value for money benchmarked against an independentcost comparator.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the context of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s statement on the objectives of the Audit Scotland review when he said “My priority is to protect the Scottish taxpayer and ensure that any major transport project is value for money, delivering real benefit to the travelling public and the Scottish economy. I want to be absolutely sure about the calculation of the costs involved in these projects, and the assessment of risk involved, before they progress any further”, he is now absolutely sure about the calculation of the costs and assessment of risk involved in the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-1811 on 24 July 2007. Allanswers 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.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what modal shift was attributed to the Air Discount Scheme in its first year of operation.
Answer
We do not currentlyhold definitive data on this.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors explain the threefold increase in subsidy paid to Northlink Ferries in the 2002-05 period.
Answer
The circumstances relating to the operation of the public service contract with NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd were fully investigated by the Auditor General for Scotland and his report, as published in December 2005, is availableelectronically at
www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/work.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how the restrictions on eligibility under the Air Discount Scheme, disqualifying those residents outside the Highlands from benefiting from the scheme, meet the legal requirements of UK and European anti-discrimination and human rights legislation.
Answer
The Air Discount Schemewas approved by the European Commission as Aid of a Social Character. Under Article87(2)(a) of the EC Treaty, such aid can be granted to those resident in a specificregion of need, as long as the relevant air services are open to free competitionamong all community air carriers.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what volumes of additional carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions were attributable to the Air Discount Scheme in its first year of operation.
Answer
These data are notavailable. The Air Discount Scheme provides for discounted fares for individualscheme members travelling on existing scheduled flights, rather than subsidisingthe flights that they travel on.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken by ministers to prevent further cost over-runs by Northlink Ferries since 2005.
Answer
The public service contract with NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd was amended in September 2004 to take account of the company’s commercial position and the additional payments that were necessary to maintain essential lifeline ferry operations whilst the contract was re-tendered.That re-tendering was completed in July 2006, with the award of a six-year public service contract in favour of NorthLink Ferries Ltd and that new operator commenced operations on 6 July 2006. As noted by the Auditor General for Scotlandin paragraphs 3.20 to 3.24 of his report into the operation of our contract withNorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd, as available electronically at
www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/work,lessons from that experience were reflected in revised tendering arrangements andcontract terms for the contract now in place with NorthLink Ferries Ltd.I can also confirm that all payments made to NorthLink Ferries Ltd since 6 July 2006 have been made in accordance with the terms of the contract.The company will publish its annual accounts for 2006-07 later this year.
