Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive did not assist Northlink, the joint venture involving Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd and the Royal Bank of Scotland, in the preparation of the tender submitted for the Northern Isles ferry contract. The limited costs incurred by Caledonian MacBrayne in bid preparation and in the start-up of the joint venture will be repaid from the return which Northlink is expected to earn for the company.Scottish Executive officials had a number of meetings and other contacts with Northlink representatives and its professional advisers, in order to provide advice to Scottish Ministers in their capacity as sole shareholder of Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. Such contacts were necessary to enable Ministers to determine whether they were content for the company to submit a joint venture bid and to provide them with the information necessary to satisfy themselves that the terms of the bid would not involve any competitive advantage to the joint venture arising from Ministers' ownership of Caledonian MacBrayne. A separation of duties was in place between officials engaged in that process and those considering the tenders submitted for the Northern Isles contract. That confidentiality arrangement will remain in place until such times as contractual negotiations are completed and a contract is awarded.

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 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.

I can confirm that the tender submitted by Northlink, the joint venture involving Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd and the Royal Bank of Scotland, was based on a full economic return.

A member state, with the agreement of the European Commission, can impose a PSO on any route which meets the stated criteria set out in EC Regulation 2408/92. The criteria are contained within Article 4.1(a) - (d) of the Regulation. These involve the public interest, the availability of other forms of transport, air fares/conditions for users and carriers operating or intending to operate on the route.

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.

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.

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.

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.