Chamber and committees

Responsibility for taking forward this local road scheme is a matter for the City of Edinburgh Council, as the responsible roads authority. Funding for the upgrade of the A8000/M9 Spur to dual carriageway is to be provided by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA). We have no current plans to trunk the route, but are in regular discussions with FETA and the council to ensure that this project is taken forward as a matter of priority.

The Executive recently completed a public consultation exercise on draft regulations to govern a scheme to recover NHS costs in cases of personal injury compensation. Although the full analysis of the responses to the consultation is still under way, one of the key messages to come out of our initial analysis was that high levels of concern remain about the insurance market’s ability to cope with the scheme. I have therefore decided that now is not the right time to introduce such a scheme. However, we remain committed to the principles that underpin the scheme and it is our intention to introduce it by 1 October 2006.

The information requested is not yet available. It is held by the Strategic Rail Authority and due to the way in which it is collected, it will take a little time to disaggregate the specific information for Fife. I will write to the member once the information is available and will place a copy of my letter in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Sewage disposal from the publicsewerage system is an operational matter for Scottish Water and its PPP partners.The Executive will continue to ensure, through its environmental regulators, thatchosen methods of disposal comply with environmental regulations.

The Scottish Executive has been investing in accessibility improvements in its core buildings since 1995, and will continue to do so.

The Scottish Executive is also providing funding across a very wide range of relevant activities. For example, we have provided £34 million to local authorities to help improve accessibility in schools over the period 2004to 2006. In higher education, spend on accessibility rose from 20% ofmaintenance spend in 2000-01 to 27% in 2002-03. And the Fair For All projecthas had £175,000 over the past year to support NHS implementation of theDisability Discrimination Act.

The Scottish Executive is responsible for dealing with the outcome in Scotland of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) incidents, and for post-incident remediation. The UK Government and Scottish ministers have agreed to set up a Government Decontamination Service (GDS), which will be an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The Executive has been closely involved in planning for the new Service and has provided financial support. There will be a Joint Ministerial Board with representatives from the UK Government, Scottish ministers and other Devolved Administrations. The GDS will be able to provide advice and guidance to Scottish authorities responsible for decontamination after an incident. Scottish ministers will report to the Scottish Parliament on the agency’s activities in the usual way. GDS officials will visit Scotland soon to meet stakeholders to inform decisions on how to develop the service for Scotland.

A further two guidance documents for the Child Witness Support Pack are being issued today. These documents are “Information About Child, Young and Vulnerable Adult Witnesses to Inform Decision-Making in the Legal Process” and a “Code of Practice to Facilitate the Provision of Therapeutic Support to Child Witnesses in Court Proceedings”.

The guidance on information about child, young and adult vulnerable witnesses aims to ensure that important information about child and adult vulnerable witnesses is captured at an early stage by the police to inform decision making and the provision of appropriate measures of support by procurators fiscal and children’s reporters. The guidance was developed in partnership with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.

The code of practice on the provision of therapeutic support aims to clarify that the provision of therapeutic support prior to court proceedings should not be discouraged and to provide guidelines on how to provide therapeutic support which avoids the contamination of evidence. The guidance was developed by a multi agency steering group of key stakeholders representing justice, health and welfare agencies.

Copies of each document have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers: 34974 Code of Practice to Facilitate the Provision of Therapeutic Support to Child Witnesses in Court Proceedings, 34975 Information about Child, Young and Vulnerable Adult Witnesses to Inform Decision Making in the Legal Process – Good Practice Guidance).

Financial inclusion is a key objective of the Executive’s Closing the Opportunity Gap approach to tackling poverty, by enabling people to use bank accounts, build savings and increasing access to affordable credit. To encourage the development of activities which achieve these aims, we are publishing the Financial Inclusion Action Plan. This document sets out what action the Executive will take to initiate and support such activities, as well as giving direction to other organisations which have a part to play in tackling financial exclusion. I am also announcing funding of £5 million per annum from 2006-07 to support the development of such activities.

Copies of the Financial Inclusion Action Plan can be found in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34879).

The report of the independent task group has been published today and can be obtained from the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34546) or from the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/society/tglp-00.asp. The Executive will consider the report’s recommendations and announce its response in spring 2005.

In the answer given to question S1W-24583, I undertook to continue to report quarterly on the number of letters received by ministers and our performance in answering them.

In the quarter April to June 2004, 3,031 letters were received for ministerial reply of which 75% received a reply within 17 working days, and 88% received a reply within 25 working days. In the same period Ministers received 729 invitations.

In the quarter July to September 2004, 2877 letters were received for ministerial reply of which 70% received a reply within 17 working days, and 86% received a reply within 25 workings days. In the same period ministers received 709 invitations.