To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the supplementary answer to question S1O-3376 by Rhona Brankin on 10 May 2001, what evidence it has that outgoing trunk road operating companies neglected the clearing of litter from motorways during the final months of the old contracts and left a legacy for the new operating companies to address; who compiled any such evidence; what additional payments have been requested by or made to the new operating companies to clear any backlog, and whether any such additional costs would be recovered from the outgoing companies and, if so, how.