Chamber and committees

I can confirm that the up-rating of mileage allowances payable to staff who have to use their car for work purposes was discussed at a meeting of the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) on 29 May. STAC is a partnership organisation which exists to collectively negotiate terms and conditions issues for NHSScotland staff and is made up of representatives of trades unions and professional representative organisations and NHS employers. Meetings are facilitated by the Scottish Government.

It was agreed at STAC to await the outcome of the UK Staff Council mileage allowances sub-group tasked with taking forward a review of mileage allowances. The sub-group is scheduled to meet on the 9 and 17 of June where it is hoped that agreement can be reached over any new arrangements.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Section 47 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 prohibits the reporting of the name, address or school, or any particulars calculated to lead to the identification, of any accused under the age of 16 years during any proceedings against them without the court’s permission.

Section 44 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for the protection of the identity of children involved in a children’s hearing.

Scottish Ministers became responsible for the rail franchise in Scotland on 17 October 2004, and no details are held by Transport Scotland prior to that date. Since then, the net subsidy payments made to First ScotRail under the Franchise Agreement have been:

2004-05 (part year): £103 million

2005-06: £201 million

2006-07: £281 million

2007-08: £294 million.

First ScotRail provide certain profitability information to Transport Scotland under the confidentiality terms of the Franchise Agreement, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45544). However, due to commercial confidentiality we are not at liberty to disclose these. Profit information is disclosed within the published Annual Report and Accounts for First ScotRail Ltd and the following operating profit figures are disclosed:

2004-05 (part year): £2.7 million

2005-06: £8.7 million

2006-07: £11.4 million.

Scottish ministers became responsible for the rail franchise in Scotland on 17 October 2004, and no details are held by Transport Scotland prior to that date. Since then, the net subsidy payments made by Transport Scotland to First ScotRail under the Franchise Agreement have been:

2004-05 (Part Year)	£103.1 million
2005-06	£201.0 million
2006-07	£281.5 million
2007-08	£294.3 million

 

First ScotRail provide a detailed breakdown of their operating costs to Transport Scotland under the confidentiality terms of the franchise agreement, and we are not at liberty to disclose these. High-level operating cost information on ScotRail''s operating costs is disclosed within their published annual report and accounts, and this information is available to members through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

As with any other modern, open economy, Scotland is not immune from global economic developments, such as the current turbulence in financial markets. The adverse developments in international financial markets will doubtless impact Scotland as they will in the rest of the UK and elsewhere. However, we are confident that the sector in Scotland is internationally competitive and can respond to these challenges.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12379 on 13 May 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government has not estimated the average lifetime cost of delivering services to any particular client group, including autism spectrum disorder. UK research has estimated that the lifetime cost to society for someone with autism to be between £2.9 million for someone with high-functioning autism and £4.7 million for someone with low-functioning autism. These costs are not limited to the delivery of services funded by the state.

Information on the costs of health services treating specific conditions or diseases is not available centrally. Information on the costs of delivering other services such as social care or housing is not held centrally.