Chamber and committees

Scottish ministers meetregularly with business leaders as part of an on-going programme aimed atlistening to the views of the business community. In particular, ministers havemet with the six largest companies – of which HBOS is one – to discussstrategic issues facing the Scottish economy. The next such meeting isscheduled for early October. I personally met senior representatives from HBOSon two occasions last year.

The Executive is committedto reviewing existing bridge tolls and entering into negotiations with a viewto ending the toll regime for the Skye Bridge. That work is under way but it is too early to saywhen negotiations might conclude.

The data requested is given in the following table.

Number of Dairy Cows on the Isle of Gigha, Kintyre and Isle of Islay: Data Taken from the June Agricultural Census of Main and Minor Holdings

Year	Isle of Gigha		Isle of Islay		Kintyre
	Holdings	Number	Holdings	Number	Holdings	Number
1984	9	516	21	1,031	105	6,520
1985	9	491	19	931	103	6,415
1986	9	511	19	969	96	6,368
1987	9	522	17	969	96	6,277
1988	9	480	17	883	94	5,974
1989	7	420	15	854	92	5,799
1990	6	340	14	937	89	5,749
1991	6	360	13	804	86	5,863
1992	6	367	15	811	80	5,515
1993	7	369	14	831	81	5,608
1994	6	381	16	978	76	5,702
1995	7	386	15	801	76	5,688
1996	6	384	14	792	74	5,556
1997	6	368	15	794	74	5,656
1998	6	371	15	777	73	5,510
1999	6	327	14	709	66	5,263
2000	6	330	13	400	64	5,256
2001	6	311	10	232	62	5,372
2002	6	321	9	215	59	5,067

 

These data are notavailable.

The total construction cost of the Skye Bridge was £39 million which includes £3 million for advisors' fees, survey work, land purchase and staff costs. The Department contributed £12 million. These figures are expressed at 1991 prices.

Total tolls collected on Skye Bridge from opening until June 2003 amount to £27,239,735. Tolls collected each year are detailed in the table:

Year	Amount £
1995	397,599
1996	3,178,385
1997	3,253,993
1998	3,579,642
1999	3,666,434
2000	3,755,373
2001	3,641,085
2002	4,003,881

The Enterprise Networks provide a wide range of assistance to businesses, which is aimed to help more new businesses get started and existing businesses to grow. The networks' support for businesses focuses on a number of specific areas to improve companies' competitiveness and commercial viability. These include: Management Development Market Development Technology Development Skills Development Investor Readiness Direct Investment This assistance is consistent with the strategic priority accorded to "Growing Businesses", one of the three key areas for economic development identified in A Smart, Successful Scotland.

The Executive sees no need to commission an independent study of the potential impacts of financial independence. Considerable work in this area has been undertaken over recent years by experts, notably in the academic world, and this has significantly informed this important debate.The Executive has participated actively in this debate.

Scottish Development International and its partners promote the whole of Scotland as a location for inward investment. Options put forward must directly address the requirements of potential investors, and attempts to favour specific locations could prove counter productive. However, in recognition of the particular difficulties faced by rural areas, Scottish Development International's Rural Inward Investment Team, established in 1998, works closely with local enterprise companies and with Highlands and Islands Enterprise in order to identify projects particularly suited to these regions.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise.