³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Hospices in Scotland are independent organisations operating on a charitable basis. As such they receive funding from a range of sources including donations. With regard to adult hospices, the NHS in Scotland provides funding for up to 50% of agreed operating costs in accordance with guidance contained in HDL (2003) 18:

.

The Children''s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) receive 12.5% of annual running costs from the NHS in Scotland and also receives grant funding through the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund.

The planning and provision of NHS services is a matter for NHS boards in accordance with the guidance contained in HDL (2003) 18:

.

Information on funding levels is available directly from NHS boards.

I have agreed to provide £10 million to establish a new institute in Dundee led by Sir Philip Cohen. The institute will be called the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling.

Funding for the institute will be provided by the Funding Council via the University of Dundee, while the Funding Council will work in partnership with Scottish Enterprise to maximise delivery of commercial outputs.

The institute will maximise the benefits to Scotland and add value to the existing public investment in life sciences. I look forward to visiting Dundee and meeting Sir Philip Cohen to discuss plans to take the Institute forward.

Scottish ministers have set Registers of Scotland the financial goal of achieving a return of 10% on net capital employed over the three-year period ending 31 March 2009.

In addition, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland will shortly publish Registers of Scotland's (RoS) 2008-13 Corporate Plan, which sets objectives to secure continuing performance improvements. In particular, as milestones for 2008-09, the keeper has set the following goals for the conduct of registrations and for customer service, which ministers endorse:

to reduce the standard production cost index by 1% for the three years ending 31 March 2009 compared with the three-year performance to 31 March 2008;

where it is in the Keeper's power and is legally appropriate, to complete the recording and registration of:

80% of Sasine writs within 20 working days; with the remainder to be completed within 40 working days;

60% of Dealings with Whole within 30 working days; with the remainder to be completed within 100 working days, and

70% of standard First Registration applications within 70 working days:

as milestones in a three-year strategy to deal with older, complex casework, where it is in the Keeper's power to do so and is legally appropriate, to:

complete registration of 25,000 Transfers of Part cases, along with their consequential Dealings with Whole, and eliminate all pre-January 2006 First Registration casework.

to achieve a registration accuracy rate of at least 98.5% for applications despatched during the previous 12 months;

to continue to operate at Charter Mark standards by:

achieving a 98% rating for overall customer care in the annual customer satisfaction survey, and

processing 98% of all customer enquiries in compliance with RoS's published response standards.

I understand that Texol is currently in administration and that, regrettably, 85 staff were made redundant on Tuesday 5 March 2008. The affected staff are being contacted by the Scottish Government''s local partnership action for continuing employment (PACE) team who will provide them with full details of the support, advice, guidance and retraining options available to help them access alternative employment opportunities. Should the administrator be unable to avoid further redundancies, PACE assistance will be also available to all those affected.

As you are aware, I met with you and Cllr. Joe Morrow on 11 March 2008 to discuss the impact of recent redundancies on the economy of the city of Dundee. This was a constructive meeting and I have agreed to facilitate a key stakeholder discussion forum, focusing on the city''s economic future, in the coming months.

A £20 million cut in Roads Improvements spend next year would represent a 37% reduction in budget. This would require Transport Scotland to delay or cancel over a third of work in the Minor Scheme, Road safety and Intelligent Transport Systems programmes. These programmes are essential in meeting targets on road casualty reduction, reducing emissions and congestion. Preparation work for major new capital schemes would also be affected. A £20 million cut over three years would represent a 12% reduction in budget and would be unsustainable for the same reasons.

Funding cuts would require the following actions to be considered:

Minor Road schemes such as A737 Barrmill Road Roundabout, A77 Burnside Improvement, A9 Bankfoot Junction Improvement or A82 Bilingual Signing amongst others, would require to be identified for delay beyond the present Spending Review period.

The proactive works identified in our Road Safety Action Plan would require to be delayed beyond the present Spending Review period.

Our Intelligent Transport Systems Action Plan would require to be rescheduled including delivery of the proposed new National Network Control Centre.

Preparation work for major new Capital road projects such as Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route may require to be rescheduled.

Delivery of the identified Roads Improvements programme is essential to supporting Scotland and its economy. The schemes and action plans contained within the programme are being delivered as commitments to address strong community concerns centred on road safety, journey time and environmental issues.

For the scheme as a whole, information is not held by local authority or parliamentary constituency area, but by main postcode.

Information on the numbers of systems installed, on a monthly basis in the DD postcode area is only available from October 2006. The number of systems installed, in the DD postcode area, over the period from October 2006 until January 2008 is shown in the following table:

	DD
October 2006	2*
November 2006	2*
December 2006	3*
January 2007	76*
February 2007	75*
March 2007	75*
April 2007	57
May 2007	58
June 2007	76
July 2007	63
August 2007	29
September 2007	34
October 2007	37
November 2007	139
December 2007	50
January 2008	77
Total	853

Notes:

1. The figures are marked with an asterisk where the current managing agent (Scottish Gas) has provided figures on a three-monthly rather than a monthly basis, during the start up period covering its involvement on the programme. The figures given are the monthly average for the relevant three-month period.

2. The DD postcode area is the main postcode covering the Dundee City Council area.

Any proposal to reduce expenditure on Capital Works would have adverse effects on delivery of a programme of new construction road schemes that have been designed for road safety reasons, or to reduce road congestion or improve access to strategic points such as ferry terminals and airports.

Transport Scotland is responsible for overseeing the safe and efficient management and maintenance of Scotland''s trunk roads. S5(2) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places an obligation on Scottish ministers to keep under review the trunk road network and to trunk, de-trunk or construct new trunk roads as appropriate. Any proposal to reduce funding on capital works has significant adverse consequences for the delivery of a programme of new schemes previously approved by Parliament.

In 2008-09, committed expenditure on capital works on schemes that are already under construction would not allow the transfer of the full £15 million.

A funding cut of £10 million per annum will not be sustainable. It will reduce the level of funding below that required for contractually committed sums, winter maintenance, defects and hazards. The Scottish ministers would not meet their minimum Duty of Care Commitments to keep the trunk road network in a safe condition for road users.

A funding cut of £10 million per annum would significantly affect the commercial viability of the operating companies and the insurance indemnity that they provide and would lead to significant job losses in the Scottish road maintenance industry.

Information on businesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However, information on the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties which may be eligible for relief under the Small Business Bonus scheme is available for each local authority area on the Scottish Assessors Portal ().

This information was given in response to answer to question S3W-7498 on 13 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at .