Chamber and committees

The information requested is published in table 2 of the National Statistics publication series Firearm Certificates Statistics, Scotland. The Bib. numbers of the 2002 to 2007 publications are 29674, 32867, 36509, 39665, 42793 and 45751 respectively.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12795 on 22 May 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government announced on 20 May the publication of the strategic business case for the Scottish Futures Trust initiative to be supported by a new company established in the public sector. The trust company will be formed this summer and will work with the public sector and market. One of its objectives will be to assist the public sector to produce national strategies for the delivery and funding of schools, housing, waste and flood prevention investment.

The investment priorities, funding options and the allocation of resources for building work on individual schools are matters for the council.

Aberdeenshire Council has responsibility for the provision and maintenance of school buildings in its area. Questions regarding the timing of particular construction projects and how they funded are matters for the council.

Subject to the satisfactory completion of the statutory procedures, it is expected that the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route will be open to traffic by the end of 2012.

We have no plans to meet with NESTRANS to discuss Aberdeen Crossrail.

The provision of public transport infrastructure in rural Grampian is a matter for NESTRANS and the local councils. Projects recently completed include the new Bus Station in Aberdeen (for rural services), Quality Bus corridors on the Stonehaven, Banchory and Westhill services, improvements to the Inverurie and Peterhead services and seven Demand Responsive Transport services introduced to areas across Aberdeenshire. Further Quality Bus Corridor improvements are planned as is Park and Ride schemes at Bucksburn and possibly at Banchory.

On rail, progress is being made on the reopening of Laurencekirk station, improved rail services to Inverurie and design work is underway for Kintore Rail Station. Connections from rural areas within Grampian are being considered as part of Transport Scotland''s Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) within the Aberdeen “ Inverness transport corridor. Transport Scotland''s High Level Output Specification (HLOS) also contains an aspiration to upgrade the Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Line to allow an hourly service to operate.

On road, major schemes to be taken forward by Transport Scotland in the Grampian area include the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the Balmedie to Tipperty improvement on the A90.

The longer term needs of Scotland''s nationally strategic transport corridors, which includes the Aberdeen urban network, are being considered through the strategic transport projects review.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and I agreed to meet with elected representatives and officials of Aberdeen City Council on 16 January 2008. The agenda for the meeting, which was set by the council, included a range of education items. During the course of the meeting the council explained the stage it had reached in the process of reviewing its school estate.

I meet regularly with Network Rail to discuss progress on the portfolio of rail projects.

I am pleased to note that the engineering works carried out in Scotland over the Easter weekend were completed on time.