Chamber and committees

Changes to Air Passenger Duty which directly benefit air services in the Highlands and Islands, and those services which carry passengers at the economy rate, were introduced in April 2001 following the Scottish Executive's representations to the UK Government. The Executive has no plans at this time to make further representations.

In 2000-01 £104,177 was spent on the submission of the Ryder Cup bid, associated costs and consultancies.In 2001-02 £827,155 was spent on the Ryder Cup. Of this £646,500 was spent on supporting golf events and £180,655 was spent on consultancies and other bid expenses. Also, an additional amount of up to £118,000 is being spent by VisitScotland on Ryder Cup related golf tourism and up to £300,000 is being spent by sportscotland for junior golf development. These monies were allocated from the sport, VisitScotland and other arts and culture expenditure heads.

David Sibbald is under contract to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department of the Executive to provide advice in connection with the recently published broadband strategy.David Sibbald entered into a six-month framework contract with the Executive which commenced on 6 September 2001. It was estimated that his advice and support would be required approximately four days per month and over the first part of the contract period this has been the case.

The A90 between the Forth Road Bridge and Barnton is classified as a local road. Plans to improve or upgrade that section of road are therefore matters for the City of Edinburgh Council.

Expected traffic flows on this local road will be a factor considered by City of Edinburgh Council as part of its plans for improvement of the road. However, information provided to the Executive in confidence as part of the application for freight facilities grant suggests that ferry traffic will have a minimal impact on this road.

The A8000 is a local road and therefore the responsibility of City of Edinburgh Council. I understand that the council will be holding public exhibitions of its plans beginning on 4 December at Kirkliston, and moving on to South Queensferry and Edinburgh before Christmas. Progress thereafter will depend on public reaction to the plans and the necessary Compulsory Purchase and Roads Orders.

Since May 1999, one Scottish Executive member of staff in Band B has completed a five-week attachment to the Ministry of the Interior, Department for Regional Development in Helsinki to assist with their contribution to the EU Urban Exchange Initiative. A further member of staff also in Band B has completed a three-month attachment to the same Department in Helsinki to assist with the administrative arrangements before and during the Tampere Informal and the Helsinki Millennium meeting.

The Executive's Public Appointments Unit maintains a register of all people serving on non-departmental public bodies. Full details are also available on the Executive's website at www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicappoint.

The inspection schedule for the M8 motorway, which is unchanged from the previous trunk road contracts, covers all inventory items, including manhole covers. The trunk road contract requires that a safety inspection is undertaken every seven days with a further safety patrol undertaken every seven days between safety inspections. Detailed inspections are carried out annually to establish programmes of routine maintenance operations not requiring urgent execution.British Standard BS EN 124 refers to current design standards for new manholes and is covered in the manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works - Volume 1, Specification for Highway Works - Clause 507 - Chambers and Volume 3 and Highway Construction Details.

The Scottish Executive works with transport authorities and transport operators to encourage the use of public transport through many initiatives. These include new and improved transport infrastructure, funding through the Public Transport Fund, Rural Transport Fund, Fuel Duty Rebate, and through ticket offers and our Learn To Let Go travel awareness campaign which is currently being evaluated.Evaluations of individual schemes and initiatives are not held centrally.