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The Scottish Governmentis supportive of the importance of including some form of question on religion inthe 2011 Census. It recognises the strong level of support that was expressed byusers in response to the spring 2007 Census consultation for the exclusion of aquestion on religion of upbringing on the grounds that a question on current religionwould meet the majority of analysis needs.

A series of informaldiscussions have been held with the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS)in response to the Census Consultation. Further input across a range of issues in relation tothe Census will be provided to the GROS over the coming months as part of theon-going consideration being given to the topics for inclusion in the 2011 Censusquestionnaire. Under current plans, a provisional decision on the topics to be includedwill be taken by GROS by March 2008. That decision, incorporating also any subsequentchanges resulting from further testing of question wording in a few cases, willbe presented to Parliament later in 2008 for final agreement.

The requirement for assessment of air quality impacts is set out in Schedule 4 of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations and Annex IV of Council Directive 85/337/EEC as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC.

Full details of the assessment and the findings for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route can be found in the Environmental Statement which can be viewed on the project website (www.awpr.co.uk).

The Forth Road Bridge is a Grade A listed structure and is managed and maintained by FETA.

Advice has not beensought on the value of the associated land, its approach roads or the material constitutingthe bridge.

The future of theForth Road Bridge will be decided once the on-going works and studies regarding the bridgecables has been completed.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-3813 on 20 September 2007. Allanswers 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.

No detailed assessmenthas been carried out at this stage on the health and safety implications for thefuture of the Forth Road Bridge.

Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area andcan be contacted if required.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-3813 on 20 September 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area andcan be contacted if required.

A range of optionsare potentially available for the existing Forth Road Bridge, including supplementing the multi-modal uses of the Forth Crossings. Theseare being looked at carefully in the context of the urgent need for a replacementcrossing and ensuring both the timing and level of investment is prudently deployed.

A short summary ofpotential options is included in Chapter 6 of Report 4 of the Forth ReplacementCrossing Study.

Under Section 36of the Electricity Act 1989, Scottish ministers are responsible for thegranting or refusal of applications for consent for electricity generation.There is no published timetable set for Scottish ministers to make thesedecisions, however, they are required by legislation to be satisfied that theyhave considered all relevant factors before taking their decision.

For applicationsmade under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, local authorities decide the vast majority of planningapplications. Scottish ministers have a general power to intervene by callingin applications for their own determination where they consider such actionnecessary. Where a planning application has been called in and a report isreturned to Planning Directorate, following a public local inquiry, Scottish ministers’published targets are to provide a decision on 80% of applications in two monthsand 100% of applications in three months.

There is no specificreview planned for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route orthe M74 extension project.

Transport Scotland continues to monitor all projects to ensure proper financialcontrol and management as well as to deliver value for money for Scottish taxpayers.That is part of the normal natural and necessary business of good government.

To date, £1.69 millionhas been spent purchasing two residential properties.