Chamber and committees

Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executiveusing the Stats 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police. Thereturns do not cover damage only accidents or accidents of which the police areunaware because they were not reported by the public.

The following tablegives the number of reported injury road accidents which were identified in theStats 19 returns as occurring within the Grampian police force area between November2006 and February 2007.

Reported Injury Road Accidents within the Grampian Police Force AreaBetween November 2006 and February 2007

Month/Year	Accidents
November 2006	113
December 2006	84
January 2007	81
February 2007	87
Total	365

 

The Scottish Governmentsupports local authorities’ net revenue expenditure on road maintenance and wintermaintenance through the core local government finance settlement. All local authoritiesreceive their needs-based share of the road maintenance and winter maintenance GrantAided Expenditure allocations and it is up to each council to decide how best toallocate the resources available to it based on its local needs and priorities.

Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executiveusing the Stats 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police. Thereturns do not cover damage only accidents or accidents of which the police areunaware because they were not reported by the public.

The following tablegives the number of reported injury road accidents which were identified in theStats 19 returns as occurring on rural roads within the Grampian Police force areabetween November 2006 and February 2007. For the purpose of road accident statisticswhich are published by the Scottish Government, “non built-up roads” (i.e. roads with speed limits ofover 40mph) represent rural roads.

Reported InjuryRoad Accidents on Non-Built-Up Roads within the Grampian Police Force Areabetween November 2006 and February 2007

Month/Year	Accidents
November 2006	54
December 2006	51
January 2007	49
February 2007	44
Total	198

 

There has been norecent bilateral consultation but there is trade union representation on PILOT.

We are working throughPILOT, the joint industry/government taskforce, on the key issues that are vitalfor the oil and gas industry’s future success. PILOT and the industry, togetherwith The Scottish Government, are working together to deliver a range of trainingprogrammes that will ensure the continuing availability of a safe, effective andhighly skilled workforce.

We are working throughPILOT, the joint industry/government taskforce, on the key issues that are vitalfor the oil and gas industry’s future success. PILOT and the industry, togetherwith The Scottish Government, are working together to deliver a range of trainingprogrammes that will ensure the continuing availability of a safe, effective andhighly skilled workforce.

The Scottish Governmenthas no current plans to establish an oil and gas academy in Scotland.

This government isfirmly committed to tackling alcohol misuse and the associated problems faced byour communities.

We recently announcedthat we are looking at the legalposition concerning offences associated with alcohol misuse. We will examine howwe can make a clear statement in law that being drunk will simply not be acceptedin courts as an excuse for bad behaviour.

We also listen tothe views of professionals who deal with the enforcement of alcohol laws. That iswhy I will shortly be conveninga licensing summit with representatives from licensing boards and ACPOS to discusshow effective current enforcement mechanisms are and how they might be improvedto help us tackle alcohol misuse.

There will be no additionalcost, other than the loss of income of £1.5 million annually, to the ScottishExecutive of ending graduate endowment payments solely from non-Scottish EUcitizens currently studying at Scottish institutions and eligible to pay.

The estimated loss of incomefrom ending all future graduate endowment payments from non-Scottish EUcitizens is £1.5m per year.

I asked Transport Scotlandto undertake a detailed review of all transport projects inherited from theprevious administration.

I reported the outcome ofthis review to Parliament on Wednesday 27 June 2007.