Chamber and committees

There are no current plans to conduct a review of acute cholecystitis. NHS boards are responsible for the provision of services for the populations they serve and it is for them to identify when such a review will take place.

This information is not held centrally.

In 2007-08, the Scottish Government spent £68.6 million to support the ferry services provided by CalMac Ferries Ltd (Clyde and Hebrides services), NorthLink Ferries Ltd (Orkney and Shetland) and Cowal Ferries Ltd (Gourock to Dunoon).

Since May 2007, the government has allocated additional money year-on-year to support:

the rising costs of supporting the network of ferry services: although carryings and therefore revenue have risen, this has not kept pace with the costs of providing services: primarily crewing, fuel, ship charters and harbour dues;

the costs of a new contract for the Clyde and Hebrides services, awarded to CalMac Ferries Ltd and which commenced on 1 October 2007 following a procurement process initiated by the previous Administration, and

the rising costs of vessels chartered from Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) reflecting the long-term transition from a grant-funded fleet to a predominantly loan-funded fleet.

The 38% increase previously quoted was based on a like-for-like comparison, in cash terms, of the £68.6 million outturn in 2007-08 with the expenditure forecast for 2010‘11 given contractual and other commitments.

In addition, since May 2007, the government has further increased spending on ferry services by:

awarding a new contract to Shetland Line 1984 Ltd for the provision of lift-on lift-off freight services to Orkney and Shetland, and

launching a pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) fares to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree.

For details of spending outturns and budgets, see the answer to question S3W-32401 on 13 May 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Defauls.aspx.

The following tables set out revenue spending on (A) the RET pilot to the Western Isles, (B) support for all ferry services provided under CalMac Ferries Ltd contract with the Scottish Government, (C) Northern Isles services (D) other ferry services and in addition spend on vessels and piers and harbours for financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09. The figures shown for financial year 2009-10 are the expected outturn figures for the year and the figures for financial year 2010-11 are the allocated budgets as detailed in Schedule 3.7 Ferry Services in Scotland published on page 22 of Scotland''s Budget Documents 2010-11: Budget (Scotland) Bill Supporting Document for the year ending 31 March 2011. The Scottish Government continues to publish all its budget information at what is commonly referred to as level 3, however, for this question a further breakdown has been detailed.

Funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd is through the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract which includes the Western Isles routes. As shown in the table below, additional funding has been provided for the RET pilot scheme to the Western Isles. Northlink Ferries Ltd is funded through the Northern Isles contract. Capital is not paid directly to the operating companies.

	2007-08 (outturn)	2008-09 (outturn)
Cal Mac Ferries Ltd	£38.3 million	£51.6 million
Northlink Ferries Ltd	£28.0 million	£33.2 million
Other ferry services	£2.3 million	£3.5 million
Road Equivalent Tariff (pilot)	Nil	£1.7 million
Vessels and piers	£10.6 million	£5.6 million
Total	£79.2 million	£95.6 million

 

	2009-10 (forecast outturn)	2010-11 (budget)
Cal Mac Ferries Ltd	£53.6 million	£45.3 million
Northlink Ferries Ltd	£36.7 million	£32.0 million
Other ferry services	£3.6 million	£2.9 million
Road Equivalent Tariff (pilot)	£6.7 million	£10.0 million
Vessels and piers	£5.7 million	£14.8 million
Total	£106.3 million	£105.0 million

 

For 2010-11 it is anticipated that expenditure on each of the budget lines will vary, in line with contractual and other commitments, whilst overall spend remains within the £105 million total.

The consultation exercise on car parking charges at Sumburgh Airport is being conducted through Sumburgh Airport Consultative Committee. ZetTrans and Shetland Islands Council are represented jointly on the consultative committee and have already provided views to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd on this matter.

The consultation exercise on car parking charges at Sumburgh Airport is being conducted through Sumburgh Airport Consultative Committee which is representative of a wide range of interests in Shetland. The Consultative Committee has provided the views of Shetland residents and Shetland based businesses to HIAL on this matter.

The potential benefits of electronic identification of sheep covered in answer S3W- 32435 are currently being assessed through the large scale Scottish EID research pilot. With an additional £1 million of Scottish Government funding the Pilot has been extended through 2010-11 and results will be produced at a later stage when findings from the Pilot emerge. Findings from Phase one of the Pilot along with technical reports have already been published on the Scottish Government website. They can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/Diseases/IDtraceability/identification.

The penalty regime which applies to farmers and crofters covering breaches of sheep identification and traceability is unchanged. Payment reductions will not be applied under Cross Compliance where discrepancies are purely as a result of any known technical limitations, including Electronic Identification equipment.

There have been several informal discussions regarding standstill periods between officials of Defra and the Scottish Government since 2001. Initial discussions were concerned with ensuring that cross border movements could take place without disadvantage to farmers on either side of the border. Later communications have been mainly to ensure understanding of the modifications which have been made to the legislation in England and Scotland.

Changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme are a reserved matter. The Prime Minister announced plans to reduce the costs of running the Civil Service, and this required changes to be made to the Civil Service Compensation arrangements that operated up until 31 March 2010. Within the Core Scottish Government there was minimal disruption to service and business delivery.