Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including rail freight.

I refer to my reply to question S1W-10863.

The Scottish Executive has regular discussions with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the planning and programming of roadworks.

Discussions have been held prior to and during the current works on the M9 and A720 with the City of Edinburgh Council, West Lothian Council and the Forth Road Bridge Board to ensure the minimum disruption to the travelling public.

This is a matter for the British Airports Authority (BAA), the owner and operator of Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports.

Revenue support to rural petrol stations is available through the Village Shop Rate Relief Scheme. Under this scheme, rural petrol stations may be eligible for up to 100% rates relief. The Rural Petrol Stations Grant Scheme provides funding to rural petrol stations to help with the capital costs of replacing tanks and pumps, meeting groundwater protection needs and installing tanks and dispensers for the sale of liquid petroleum gas.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10809.

The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council provides funding for superJANET, a network infrastructure in Scotland, which secures high-bandwidth connections for all higher education institutions in Scotland and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), which are local in nature and help speed up these connections. The council has also provided funding for a range of projects, which are developing approaches to online learning, such as the Clyde Virtual University project. More generally, the council is providing funding to support staff in the use of web-based tools for teaching and learning, as well as funding for staff development in a range of ICT skills.These activities are helping institutions to develop expertise in online and distributed learning. It is a matter for institutions whether they wish to offer provision in this mode, either in Scotland or internationally.

The Scottish Executive makes a very substantial input into TCS (formerly the Teaching Company Scheme) in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive is one of 11 TCS Sponsors, together with five other Government Departments (DTI is the lead sponsor) and five Research Councils. It is sponsors who jointly provide the funding for TCS and decide upon scheme policy and qualifying criteria.

The Scottish Executive acts as a liaison point for the activities of TCS consultants and the three TCS Centres in Scotland.

No, however, the Scottish Executive recognises the potential for economic development and regeneration alongside the proposed M74 northern extension. Discussions with the three councils involved are ongoing.

A special project team is being established to take forward this large and complex project. The overall timetable for preparation, planning, land acquisition, any Public Inquiry and construction is presently estimated at around eight to nine years. The power to levy workplace parking charges is no longer part of the Transport (Scotland) Bill.