Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally.

The annual value of the Energy Saving Trust's Powershift grants for the conversion of motor vehicles to alternative fuels in Scotland since 1997 is:

Year		Amount (£)
1997	0
1998	7,000
1999	290,336
2000	97,000

The results of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions sponsored Study - Inverness-London Air Service: Economic Impact Assessment has not yet been submitted to Ministers and publishing arrangements have not been finalised. Scottish Executive officials commented on the methodology and on a draft report. Under the terms of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information, it would not be appropriate for the Executive to disclose information which would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion and advice, including between the Scottish Executive and the UK Government. However, the emerging issues from this study, and those from the Scottish Airports and Air Services Study and other Regional Studies in the rest of the UK, are being co-ordinated and audited for consistency as part of the Regional Air Services Co-ordination (RASCO) Study. Once RASCO has been completed the next step will be for a UK wide public consultation exercise.

The Energy Saving Trust's Powershift programme has processed the following Scottish applications and claims since 1997:

	Applications received	Number of grants
1997	2	0
1998	3	3
1999	40	31
2000	91	62

The difference between applications received and the number of grants is primarily because of applications failing to meet the criteria or being withdrawn.

None.

None.

The total cost of constructing the Kingston Bridge complex, including approach viaducts and entry/exit ramps, was just over £11 million (1970 prices). We do not have details of how much was spent on an annual basis by the previous roads authorities (Corporation of the City of Glasgow and Strathclyde Regional Council) between June 1970 when the bridge was opened and 1 April 1996 when the M8 through Glasgow was adopted as a trunk road. However, Strathclyde Regional Council spent approximately £11.6 million between the late 1980s when the complex's structural problems first became apparent and that latter date. Actual and forecast expenditure for the complex including the bridge since it became part of the trunk road network is set out below:

1996-97	£6,961,860
1997-98	£11,414,308
1998-99	£4,724,874
1999-2000	£7,902,006
2000-01	£11,069,873
2001-02	£4,669,370
2002-03	£9,259,770

Estimates of costs beyond this period have not yet been prepared because we are awaiting the outcome of further traffic studies and structural investigations that are required to develop a robust maintenance strategy for the Kingston Bridge complex.

This is a matter for individual police forces. The information requested is not held centrally, but all forces have to handle Royal/VIP visits as necessary.

The proposed extension of the Freight Facilities Grant Scheme to coastal and short sea shipping for journeys which begin and end in Scotland is a fully devolved matter.

The extension to the Scheme to cover journeys which only begin or end in Scotland is a matter reserved for the Westminster Parliament. However, powers to make grant for such projects are planned to be executively devolved to the Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Executive will continue to administer the Scheme for relevant projects.

Traffic volume is regulated by the capacity of the adjacent sections of the route rather than by the capacity of the bridge. Currently some 140,000 vehicles per day are crossing the bridge although in the recent past the traffic volume has exceeded 155,000 vehicles per day. On completion of the strengthening works the present traffic restrictions will no longer be required and the bridge could be restored to 10 lanes.

Once the current strengthening contract and the other planned refurbishment works to the bridge, the approach viaducts and entry/exit ramps have been completed, the complex will revert to a normal inspection and maintenance footing.

Provision has been made in current spending plans for the next two years of £4.669 million and £9.259 million respectively for replacing the bearings at the north and south ends of the main bridge, replacement of the Stobcross Off Ramp and cope and parapet replacement. Depending on the availability of funding beyond that time-scale, the remaining works are expected to take a further three to five years to complete.