Chamber and committees

The UK Government isresponsible for EU and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) negotiationsand the Executive contributes to the UK line on all devolved matters. The Executive hascontributed to and participated in meetings between the European Commission andmember states.

Some maritime transportissues are devolved, including support for lifeline ferry services. the Executive has had a number of meetings and discussions with the EuropeanCommission regarding the Northern Isles and Clyde and Hebridesferry services. These concerned the issues involved in implementing the EU Council Regulation 3577/92 on Maritime Cabotage and theCommunity Guidelines 97/C/205/5 on State Aids to Maritime Transport.

The Executivehas had no meetings with the IMO. Maritime safety is a reserved matter and isthe responsibility of the Department for Transport and its agency, the Maritimeand Coastguard Agency.

Traffic congestion occurswhen demand for road space, usually at certain times of day, outstrips supply.On the demand side, the main causes are large numbers of parents driving theirchildren to school and commuters driving to work, which place particularly highstress on the road network during the morning and evening rush hours. On thesupply side, the main causes are badly planned road works or gaps in roadinfrastructure. However it is caused, congestion is bad for the economy, localcommunities and the environment and frustrates all road users, including buses,taxis and cycles.

The Scottish Executive is pursuing a range of policies to tackle congestion. There are fourbasic elements. Firstly, the Executive is committed to major improvements in publictransport services supported by the delivery of new infrastructure. By the endof 2006, the Scottish Executive will be spending £1 billion per year on transport,of which 70% will be targeted on public transport including park and ride,improved rail services and bus priority measures. Public transport must providean attractive and realistic alternative to driving. Secondly, the Executivewill support local authorities bringing forward plans to introduce appropriateroad user charging schemes. Thirdly, the Executive is committed to delivering anumber of key road improvement projects provided there is clear evidence ofpublic support. Fourthly, the Scottish Executive is looking at new proposalsto improve the coordination of utility company roadworks, which are asignificant source of congestion.

Most of our major publictransport projects are actually promoted by others, for example City of Edinburgh Council for trams and Strathclyde Passenger Transport for the Glasgow AirportRail link. In these instances the best current estimates would be availablefrom the promoter. Generally only motorways and trunk roads are promoted byScottish ministers directly. We take a firm view of the costs at the stage whena business case is presented to the Executive and we are invited to contributeto the funding.

Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, and The Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc) Order 1999, set out the division of responsibility on aviation matters between the Scottish Executive and the UK Government.

The Short Sea and Waterways Forum is an industry led body that represents UK waterfreight interests including all the main Scottish ports and waterways. Its overarching aim is the promotion of water freight transport throughout the UK.

We welcome the formation of an organisation which has the potential to develop this important freight transport sector.

The Scottish Executive believes that closer co-operation between the Scottish Executive and the Nordic Council of Ministers will deliver benefits for Scotland. It is not necessary to become a member of the Nordic Council to enjoy thesebenefits and the Executive is not seeking to do so.

The rules in relation to public service obligations (PSOs) are determined by the European Union.

In the case of maritime PSOs, the rules are set out in Council Regulation 3577/92 and associated guidelines 97/C205/05. These allow member states to conclude PSOs. The Executive’s role involves ensuring its arrangements for subsidising Scottish ferry services are consistent with EU rules and that subsidy can continue to be made. This includes proposing PSOs, consulting with the Commission about such proposals and tendering these to comply with the rules. The Executive currently provides subsidy in respect of Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, operated by Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd, and Orkney and Shetland ferry services, operated by NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd, and it monitors the respective contracts.

In the case of aviation, PSOs are governed by EU Regulation 2408/92. The Scottish Executive ensures that any case for a PSO meets the criteria contained in the regulation. Local authorities are expected to fund, from their own resources, any air service PSO which operated entirely within their boundaries. The Executive funds the three PSOs which currently cross local authority boundaries.

The costings given in A Partnership for a Better Scotland – as is also the convention for all Executive financial publications – are given in cash terms:in other words, they are not index-linked unless specifically identified as such.

In part this is because the UK Government uses cash numbers for setting the overall control total and in its publications. Having our published numbers on a consistent basis improves transparency. Since our budget is fixed in cash terms, index-linking particular items would also risk breaching the overall budget should inflation prove higher than forecast.

The Scottish franchise was let on 1 April 1997.The following information below shows franchise payments net of SPT passengerincome from 1998 to 2002, taken from ScotRail's statutory accounts filed atCompanies House. The costs of the next franchise will be determined by theoutcome of the commercial bidding process.

	1998 1998 Prices (£ Million)	1999 1999 Prices (£ Million)	2000 2000 Prices (£ Million)	2001 2001 Prices (£ Million)	2002 2002 Prices (£ Million)
Franchise Payments	231	219	211	176	213

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1826 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.