³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The level of fuel tax is a reserved matter. The Executive has regular discussions with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including fuel duty. Scottish ministers will continue to ensure that Scotland’s interests are placed firmly on the agenda in Whitehall on tax, as on other matters, through direct contact with Treasury Ministers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-13619 on 18 January 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

.

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

Ìý

The breakdown of direct costs incurred by the Executive (to end January 2005) in connection with the EU requirements in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services is set out in the table below. It 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. The figures have been calculated in cash terms.

Staffing (Note1)	£ 800,000 (approx)
Travel and Subsistence Expenses for Officials (Note 2)	£12,000 (approx)
Consultation Exercises (Note 3)	£40,000 (approx) (incl. VAT)
External Advice (Note 4)	£286,000 (approx) (incl. VAT)
Total	£1,138 million

Notes:

1. A dedicated team of officials has been in place to deal with the EU requirements in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services since November 1999. Individual staff costs (including pension and NI contributions) are complex to calculate. This figure is derived from the structure of the team from November 1999 to the present and average full staff costs for each relevant grade for each financial year.

2. Travel and Subsistence incurred by the dedicated team of officials. It does not include a proportion for ministers.

3. This includes design, printing and postage. It does not include staff time which is accounted for separately.

4. The Executive has commissioned external advice, totally approximately £286,000, where the expertise was not available internally:

-research to provide additional evidence to the Commission on the uniqueness of the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet. This supported the Executive’s proposals to retain the fleet in public ownership and to bind the successful bidder to those vessels.

-technical advice on the service specifications for the Clyde and Hebrides services and the Gourock to Dunoon route.

-technical advice on the proposed restructuring of Caledonian MacBrayne

-research into the application of the EU rules in other member states. This research is due to be completed shortly.

As indicated in my statement, the maximum payment for the national free bus scheme for older and disabled people will be £159 million in 2006-07 and £163 million in 2007‑08. Actual expenditure within that cap will depend on the number of concessionary passengers and the cost of the journeys carried out. As also indicated in my statement, payment will be at the rate of 73.6% of the average adult fare.

The Executive has no plans to in this regard.

During the parliamentary debate on ferry services on 8 December 2004 the Parliament expressed concerns regarding the tendering process. I agreed to discuss these concerns with the European Commission and raised this issue with the European Transport Commissioner, M Barrot, when I met him in Brussels on 9 December 2004. Following that meeting I wrote to M Barrot asking whether there was any way, within the terms of European law relating to maritime cabotage, to allow the Clyde and Hebrides services to continue to be delivered on a subsidisedbasis without the need to tender. Further discussions are taking place between the Executive and the European Commission and I will report back to Parliament on thisissue as soon as possible.

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.

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.

As the governing body for the sport, the Camanachd Association is responsible for promoting shinty. One of the targets in the Association’s Development Plan is to promote shinty and its cultural history to as broad an audience as is possible. It is for the association to seek to identify other areas where shinty is played and then explore with interested parties there the possible formation of an international governing body for the sport.