- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will invite the Auditor General for Scotland to investigate the implications of the Skye Bridge contract for future public finance initiatives and whether the public funding allocated under the contract represented good use of public money.
Answer
The Executive has no plans to in this regard.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement on concessionary travel on 22 December 2004, how much the proposed smart card scheme will cost.
Answer
Current estimates indicate that the cost of providing appropriate bus infrastructure to support the use of Smartcards for concessionary travel will be in the region of £9 million.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the tender process of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, showing costs of any external consultants to be used.
Answer
I refer to the response to S2W-13266 on 24 January 2005 in relation to the cost of the work carried out to the end of January 2005 in connection with the EU requirements in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.
There is no formal estimate of the future cost to the Executive of the tender process. However, if the tendering goes ahead, I expect that a similar team of officials to that which is currently working on the tendering proposals would be in place until contract handover date. On the basis that contract handover takes place in late 2007 staff costs would be approximately £550,000 in current prices. As with the reply to S2W-13266 this figure does not include the cost of senior officials in Transport Group, specialist officials or ministers as their time cannot be separately accounted for. Neither does it include a proportion of the overheads which the Executive accrues generally.
Further external technical advice would be commissioned to finalise the service specification, to assist in the Executive’s evaluation of bids and to support the Executive in monitoring and managing the contract handover and implementation. I would anticipate that this will cost in the region of £200,000 to 300,000. These costs are, of course, estimates and would depend on a number of factors, for example, the number of bidders, the complexity of tender negotiations and issues arising during contract handover.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much public funding was allocated in respect of the Skye Bridge and how much funding Skye Bridge Limited received in (a) tolls and (b) subsidies in each year since the bridge was opened.
Answer
The total cost of the Skye Bridge project was £39 million, of which some £15 million was publicly funded. Both these figures are quoted at 1991 prices.
Toll receipts totalled £33,370,829 in cash terms between October 1995 and September 2004. This includes compensation payments, totalling £7,564,517 in cash terms, in respect of the costs of increased frequent user discounts from 1998, the freeze on toll levels from 2000 and the imposition of VAT on tolls from February 2003. A breakdown of these totals is set out in the following table:
| Year | Toll Revenue (£) | Compensation Payments (£) |
| 1995 | 397,599 | 0 |
| 1996 | 3,178,385 | 0 |
| 1997 | 3,253,993 | 0 |
| 1998 | 3,579,642 | 637,482 |
| 1999 | 3,666,434 | 712,723 |
| 2000 | 3,755,373 | 801,483 |
| 2001 | 3,641,085 | 858,414 |
| 2002 | 4,003,881 | 1,028,589 |
| 2003 | 4,137,522 | 1,623,888 |
| 2004 | 3,756,915 | 1,901,938 |
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a ministerial statement regarding the buy out of the PFI of Inverness Airport Terminal; whether it will provide an estimate of the costs of buying out the PFI, and whether it recognises potential benefits from the buy out for the economy of the Highlands and Inverness in particular.
Answer
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) has recently undertaken a full review of the PFI contract at Inverness Airport Terminal and the impact of a buy-out on the airport and the wider economy. With the support of the Executive, HIAL is now seeking to secure the buy-out of the contract. HIAL will be aiming to secure best value for the taxpayer in these sensitive negotiations and an announcement will be made at their conclusion.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will direct, or invite, the City of Edinburgh Council to seek approval from the Electoral Commission of the proposed wording of the question in the forthcoming referendum on toll proposals and of the proposal to send to each household a leaflet setting out the council's plans; whether the Executive is satisfied that the council's proposals are fair; whether the Executive has any powers in relation to the referendum, including the holding or funding of the referendum, that would enable it to require the council to amend its plans; whether the Executive has had any correspondence with the council, its officials or those acting on its behalf regarding the wording of the question on the referendum ballot paper or the proposal to fund the cost and issue a leaflet to each household regarding the transport plans.
Answer
The wording of the question in the forthcoming non statutory referendum on the Council’s Local Transport Strategy is a matter for the City of Edinburgh Council. The Executive has not provided funding for the referendum, nor the associated information campaign.
Due to the nature of Scottish ministers’ quasi judicial role in confirming a charging order, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time on any particular aspect of the proposed scheme.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11627 by Nicol Stephen on 19 November 2004, whether it is yet in a position to publish copies of the franchise agreement between it and First Group plc.
Answer
The parties to the franchise agreement are the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive and First ScotRail. As stated in S2W-11627 answered on the 19
November 2004, the SRA are under a statutory obligation to publish the franchise agreement.
Once the statutory process is complete and the ScotRail franchise agreement is placed in the SRA’s public register, copies of this will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the business case for the Borders Railway; whether the response will be made in a ministerial statement to the Parliament, and whether it envisages that there will be an opportunity to question the Minister for Transport on the matter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive continues to consider the Waverley Railway’s outline business case and the implications of the current delay in the parliamentary process. An announcement will be made soon.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of children who have the opportunity, through school-organised trips, to participate in outdoor activity and whether it considers that National Park boards should play a role in facilitating such activity.
Answer
I want more young people to experience the far reaching benefits and opportunities which outdoor activities can bring, and school organised excursions provide an important means of encouraging that. I have asked Learning and Teaching Scotland to take forward the development of outdoor education.
It would be for the National Park Boards themselves to consider, in association with local authorities and other relevant interests, what role the boards might have in facilitating school organised excursions and I would welcome their active interest and actions to support expanding outdoor education.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 21 January 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports Lochaber's bid to become the outdoor capital of the United Kingdom.
Answer
As part of its “Active” marketing brand, VisitScotland aims to promote Scotland as the outdoor capital of Europe, and I welcome industry initiatives which help to highlight the range and quality of outdoor activities that Scotland has to offer. The Lochaber initiative is an excellent example of how public and private organisations can work together to develop this valuable market.
