Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government took the decision to abolish the tolls on the Forth Road Bridge and the Tay Road Bridge in the belief that it was unfair and unacceptable to continue charging. This introduced equality on all bridges in Scotland, ending an injustice whereby those crossing the Forth Road Bridge and the Tay Road Bridge, commuters, drivers of commercial vehicles, tourists or local residents, were singled out for road charging.

Our transport system contributes to this government’s purpose of sustainable economic growth through connecting people to jobs, education, services and recreation, and connecting businesses with customers and suppliers. The removal of tolls on the Forth Road Bridge contributes to increased mobility and equality, enabling faster and more reliable journeys, and increasing access to employment.

On abolition in February 2008, the tolls on the Forth Road Bridge (FRB) for cars and light goods vehicles were £1.00 per crossing. This was for the north bound crossing only.

This meant an annual cost of tolls of £230 per annum (based on a five day working week over a 46 week working year, assuming six weeks holiday per annum). Frequent user discount vouchers were available on the FRB. If these were used then the reduced rate of £0.90 was applied and the annual cost would have been £207 per annum based on the same conditions above.

Assuming that an increase in tolls would have taken place, uprating the 2008 frequent traveller cost of £207 annually to allow for inflation would mean a bridge toll in 2013 of £233 per annum, the amount a commuter would save in 2013 if tolls had not been abolished. This is an increase of £26 or 12.6% since 2008. This uprated figure is calculated using GDP deflators from the latest National Accounts figures produced by the Office of National Statistics and HM Treasury forecasts.

On behalf of Transport Scotland, the Scottish Roads Traffic Database operates a number of automatic traffic counters at Echline. These were installed in 2004 to record traffic flows on the bridge.

The Forth Estuary Transport Authority is responsible for the management, maintenance and operation of the Forth Road Bridge. Detailed traffic statistics recording the number of vehicles using the Forth Road Bridge are available on their website:

http://www.forthroadbridge.org/the-bridgetraffic-statistics/the-bridge-traffic-statistics-2013.

Given that this legislation was implemented before devolution, and is a reserved matter, figures are not collected separately for Scotland by the Scottish Government.

The Department for Work and Pensions will be able to advise on the 1988 contributions cut-off in the social security legislation.

Using Department for Work and Pensions forecasts, the changes from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment is estimated to reduce the number of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment by nearly 70,000 in Scotland by October 2018. Those changes to disability benefits, along with other coalition welfare cuts, will have a significant and detrimental impact on poverty in Scotland and will undermine our efforts to tackle its causes. The solution is for the Scottish Parliament to have control over welfare matters so that we can devise policies for the benefit of the Scottish people.

The Scottish Government recognises the misery and distress flooding can bring. That is why my officials remain in regular contact with officials from local authorities across Scotland via the various stakeholder groups established to assist with the implementation of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, as well as through the local authority SCOTS flood risk management group.

Where flooding events do happen, the Scottish Government would be in contact with responders, such as Fife Council, to understand the nature of the impact, and would ask to be kept informed of any flood risk management work that was planned as a result of the incident.

I am delighted to announce that the paper Scotland’s Economy: the case for independence will be published on 21 May 2013. A copy will be lodged with SPICe under bib number 54973.

The paper highlights the strengths of Scotland’s economy across a range of key sectors, our fiscal position and Scotland’s potential for growth. The paper also explores the social, economic and geographic inequalities that have developed under the UK system and the opportunities for Scotland’s economy that would flow from independence.

Information relating to Local Government revenue expenditure is also available from the Scottish Government website under Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics by way of the following link: www.scotland.gov.uk.

The Scottish Government’s view is that housing benefit would be affordable in an independent Scotland and would be more affordable than the housing benefit expenditure for Great Britain. Over the decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, in inflation-adjusted terms, the growth of housing benefit was significantly lower in Scotland (at 21%) than in Great Britain as a whole (53%).

Housing benefit in an independent Scotland would form part of a national social protection system. Scotland’s Balance Sheet, published on 14th April 2013, shows that in 2011-12, social protection expenditure was equivalent to 14.4% of GDP. This is lower than the equivalent UK figure of 15.9%. In addition, spending on social protection in Scotland, as a share of the economy, has been lower than in the UK for the last five years, and is also lower than in the majority of other EU-15 countries.

In an independent Scotland a social protection system could be implemented which is appropriate to the needs of the Scottish people, achieving greater efficiency and improving affordability.