Chamber and committees

It is for The Highland Council to decide on the priorities for the provision of new schools in their area, within the resources available to them. These resources include the financial support we have offered the council for a schools PPP project with a capital value of around £100 million; direct capital grant in the form of a Schools Fund allocation of £4.332 million in 2005-06 rising to £4.751 million by 2007-08, and the substantial resources which the Council can generate within the level they can afford, principally through borrowing, under the prudential framework.

We are continuing to develop our proposals to extend the dual carriageway at Crubenmore by around 2km at a cost of £5.4 million and to provide 4km of additional overtaking opportunities between Kincraig and Dalraddy at a cost of £4.3 million. I expect to publish draft orders for these schemes this year. A number of other improvements are planned and work has begun on a route improvement study which will report in the autumn.

The Scottish Executive’s broadband strategy is facilitating the rollout and uptake of broadband technology across Scotland. Project ATLAS fits within this overall strategy but is led and funded by Scottish Enterprise. Issues about use of public funding and the benefits achieved are, in the first instance, operational matters for Scottish Enterprise.

No, this is not normal procedure for such projects. We have been advised by Strathclyde Passenger Transport that the Consultation Exercise for the Glasgow Airport Rail link does not conclude until 28 February 2005. The Scottish Executive looks forward to receiving a copy of the Consultation Report when it is published.

No this is not normal procedure for such projects. We look forward to receiving a copy of the Consultation Report from Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Ltd when it is published.

We are taking forward the work on the A82 Route Action Plan as a matter of priority. I expect the study to report in October of this year, and the findings will be made public as soon as possible thereafter.

The Scottish Executive is fully committed to effectively addressing youth crime.  As indicated in the answers to questions S2W-2071 (on 5 September 2003), S2W-679 (on 17 June 2003) and S1W-32193 (on 12 December 2002). All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the searchfacility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/wa.search.

It is for individual police forces to determine the extent of their involvement in initiatives such as Operation Youth Advantage.

Yes.

During the parliamentary debate on ferry services on 8 December 2004 the Parliament expressed concerns regarding the tendering process. I agreed to discuss these concerns with the European Commission and raised this issue with the European Transport Commissioner, M Barrot, when I met him in Brussels on 9 December 2004. Following that meeting I wrote to M Barrot asking whether there was any way, within the terms of European law relating to maritime cabotage, to allow the Clyde and Hebrides services to continue to be delivered on a subsidisedbasis without the need to tender. Further discussions are taking place between the Executive and the European Commission and I will report back to Parliament on thisissue as soon as possible.

I refer to the response to S2W-13266 on 24 January 2005 in relation to the cost of the work carried out to the end of January 2005 in connection with the EU requirements in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.

There is no formal estimate of the future cost to the Executive of the tender process. However, if the tendering goes ahead, I expect that a similar team of officials to that which is currently working on the tendering proposals would be in place until contract handover date. On the basis that contract handover takes place in late 2007 staff costs would be approximately £550,000 in current prices. As with the reply to S2W-13266 this figure does not include the cost of senior officials in Transport Group, specialist officials or ministers as their time cannot be separately accounted for. Neither does it include a proportion of the overheads which the Executive accrues generally.

Further external technical advice would be commissioned to finalise the service specification, to assist in the Executive’s evaluation of bids and to support the Executive in monitoring and managing the contract handover and implementation. I would anticipate that this will cost in the region of £200,000 to 300,000. These costs are, of course, estimates and would depend on a number of factors, for example, the number of bidders, the complexity of tender negotiations and issues arising during contract handover.