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The current tolling order for Erskine Bridge will expire on 1 July 2006. Anyproposal to extend the tolling period, under powers in section 4(3) of the ErskineBridge Tolls Act 1968, would be effected by Statutory Instrument, subject to affirmative resolution in the Parliament.

Under the Executive’s Carers Strategy £10 million a year was made available across Scotland from April 2000 onwards, specifically to expand local services supporting unpaid carers. This investment was further enhanced in April 2001 when authorities were given additional resources for respite care, a key service for carers and the people they care for. This provided an additional £5 million in 2001-02, £6 million in 2002-03 and £11 million in 2003-04. These resources are being maintained in real terms over the period 2004-08, thereby securing this unprecedented growth in service provision for carers.

The resources are distributed to local authorities as part of the normal Grant Aided Expenditure distribution arrangements. The table adds together the resources made available through these arrangements to Argyll and Bute Council and West Dunbartonshire Council under the Strategy and to deliver additional respite. They are only a small component of the total resources that authorities have access to for the provision of social care; authorities’ expenditure over a wide range of services is also helping to benefit carers.

Local Authority	2000-01 (£000)	2001-02 (£000)	2002-03 (£000)	2003-04 (£000)	2004-05 (£000)
Argyll and Bute	204	307	324	425	430
West Dunbartonshire	183	278	296	392	423

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I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14090, on 28 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .

The Executive is in the process of ensuring that direct payments take up is evaluated through the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework. When further direct payments subgroups are set up, service users will be involved in reviewing how this system of monitoring is being implemented in practice.

The National Park Authority expects to launch its draft National Park Plan for consultation on 16 May 2005. Following consultation, the draft plan will be submitted to Scottish ministers for approval.

Local authority Grant Aided Expenditure, including for community care for older people, is published on the Scottish Executive website at .

Grant Aided Expenditure is funded by a combination of centrally provided government funding through Aggregate External Finance and funding raised by local authorities through locally raised council tax revenue. Local authorities are free to spend above or below the Grant Aided Expenditure level, according to their own priorities. The money that local authorities receive through Aggregate External Finance is, in the main, provided by way of a block grant and is not allocated to specific services.

Grant Aided Expenditure is allocated to individual local authorities on the basis of a needs-based distribution formula agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

General funding allocations to NHS boards of £6.01 billion for 2005-06 were detailed in written answer S2W-14069 on 4 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at . It is for boards to decide how best to utilise these funds to meet the health care needs of their resident populations, including services for older people, taking account of national and local priorities.

£29.5 million was allocated to NHS boards in 2004-05 for local authority/NHS Partnerships specifically to tackle the problems of delayed discharges in Scotland. These funds were distributed as follows:

NHS Board	£000
Argyll and Clyde	2,553
Ayrshire and Arran	2,292
Borders	665
Dumfries and Galloway	957
Fife	1,982
Forth Valley	1,559
Grampian	2,679
Greater Glasgow	5,455
Highland	1,367
Lanarkshire	3,152
Lothian	3,986
Orkney	124
Shetland	134
Tayside	2,361
Western Isles	234
Total	29,500

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Similar delayed discharge allocations for 2005-06 have yet to be announced.

There are a number of strategies in place to assist disabled people to live independent lives, whether for housing, health, transport, employment or lifelong learning.

Supporting People, which delivers housing support services to people with disabilities and other service users, allocated approximately £138 million in 2003-04 to directly support nearly 6,500 disabled people across Scotland to live independently in their own homes.

Direct Payments allow disabled people to buy the community care they are assessed as needing. Being self-directed, it gives users choice and control over the services they receive, with £8.3 million in 2003-04 providing care for 912 users including disabled people.

Free Personal and Nursing Care is available for disabled and non-disabled people aged 65 and over and the Executive committed £250 million from 2002 to 2004 with a further £147 million for 2004-05 and £153 million for 2005-06. There will also be free local off-peak bus travel across Scotland for older and disabled people from April 2006.

The European Social Fund helps people with disabilities back into the labour market. Measure 2.1 aims to improve social inclusion in target groups such as disabled people by supporting access to training, employment and income earning opportunities and by addressing the key barriers they face.

The Scottish Executive is committed to developing direct payments as a way of giving service users choice and control over the care services they receive. From April 2005, direct payments will be available to the first non disabled client group, those people aged 65 and over who are assessed as needing care services. It is also anticipated that concentrated effort will be made to increase uptake among current eligible groups such as disabled children, mental health service and learning disabled users from April 2005 onwards.

Land at the Vale of Leven Hospital has been identified as appropriate for development not only for a 60 bed care of the elderly facility but also as the site of a new Primary Care Resource Centre. While NHS Argyll and Clyde are agreeable in principle to the sale of both sites there are aspects of the financial treatment of the sale proceeds of the resource centre site which are causing concern and which in turn impact upon and could delay the sale of the care of the elderly facility.

There is no intentional delay in the process. NHS Argyll and Clyde are currently reviewing the disposal route for the care of the elderly facility to ensure that the viability of this project is not prejudiced by valuation considerations and the financial treatment of the capital receipt. All parties to the transaction are currently engaged in discussions to determine the most appropriate means of disposing of the sites without prejudicing either of the projects. The care of the elderly site project is at a very early stage ofdevelopment and although no formal public consultation has been undertaken the local community Care and Carers Forum have been kept fully involved in the proposal.

Officials from my department have recently been in touch with officials from Argyll and Clyde and they will continue to assist all parties to ensure that no undue delay is incurred.

The final report of the Tolled Bridges Review will be published following its consideration by ministers in late summer 2005.