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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 detail requested is not held centrally. Information on the average savings for business properties in 2008-09 according to their rateable value is available for Scotland as a whole and is presented as follows, together with the number of business properties falling in each band. Savings represent the projected amount of additional relief that will be available under the Small Business Bonus Scheme in 2008-09 compared with the percentage relief that would have been available under the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme (had it continued at the same rates of relief as in 2007-08):

Rateable Value Bands	Number of Separate Business Properties	Average Rateable Value (£)	% Small Business Rates Relief (2007-08)	% Small Business Bonus Scheme (2008-09)	% Additional Saving Under SBBS (2008-09)	Average Additional Saving SBBS (2008-09) (£)
up to £1,000	28,482	£512	50%	80%	30%	£70
£1,001 to £2,000	22,781	£1,511				£208
£2,001 to £3,000	18,849	£2,532				£348
£3,001 to £3,500	7,884	£3,279				£451
£3,501 to £4,000	7,461	£3,790	40%		40%	£694
£4,001 to £4,500	6,867	£4,298				£787
£4,501 to £5,000	6,427	£4,796	30%		50%	£1,098
£5,001 to £5,750	7,478	£5,394				£1,235
£5,751 to £6,000	2,941	£5,911	20%		60%	£1,625
£6,001 to £7,000	8,406	£6,536				£1,796
£7,001 to £8,000	7,053	£7,551	10%		70%	£2,421
£8,001 to £9,000	6,312	£8,567	5%	40%	35%	£1,373
£9,001 to £10,000	5,284	£9,559				£1,532
£10,001 to £11,000	4,379	£10,575		20%	15%	£727
£11,001 to £11,500	1,986	£11,330				£778
£11,501 to £12,000	1,862	£11,835	NIL		20%	£1,084
£12,001 to £13,000	3,465	£12,572				£1,152
£13,001 to £14,000	2,991	£13,589				£1,245
£14,001 to £15,000	2,756	£14,594				£1,337
Total	153,664		Average up to £15,000			£752

Notes:

1. To allow comparison between the new Small Business Bonus Scheme and the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme, information is given for each £1,000 rateable value band up to £15,000. Additional bands correspond to the thresholds for different percentage reliefs available under the 2007-08 Small Business Rates Relief Scheme.

2. To ensure comparability, the 2008-09 poundage rate (45.8 pence in the pound) has been used in all calculations.

3. For illustrative purposes, the table also shows the number of non-domestic properties, except zero-rated properties, with rateable values of up to £15,000, together with their average rateable value (source: Scottish Assessors Portal, 1 October 2007; www.saa.gov.uk).

4. Percentage relief available under the Small Business Bonus Scheme in 2008-09 represents 80% of the full Scheme benefits, which will be available from 2009-10.

5. The number of eligible businesses will be lower than the number of non-domestic properties in each area, because some businesses have more than one property. This may affect eligibility for relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which will depend on:

the combined rateable value of all properties in Scotland of which the business is in rateable occupation or (if vacant) which the business is entitled to occupy;

whether the property is eligible for one of the existing rates relief schemes, and

the level of other public sector assistance received by the business.

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 (www.saa.gov.uk).

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 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9756 on 19 February 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Information on the average annual saving for business properties with a rateable value of up to £15,000 is presented as follows for (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10 and 2010-11. Savings represent the projected amount of additional relief that will be available for each rateable value band under the Small Business Bonus Scheme compared with the percentage relief that would have been available under the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme had it continued at the same rates of relief as in 2007-08:

(i) 2008-09:

Rateable Value Bands	% Small Business Rates Relief (2007-08)	% Small Business Bonus Scheme (2008-09)	% Additional Saving Under SBBS (2008-09)	£ Average Additional Saving SBBS (2008-09)
up to £1,000	50%	80%	30%	£70
£1,001 to £2,000				£208
£2,001 to £3,000				£348
£3,001 to £3,500				£451
£3,501 to £4,000	40%		40%	£694
£4,001 to £4,500				£787
£4,501 to £5,000	30%		50%	£1,098
£5,001 to £5,750				£1,235
£5,751 to £6,000	20%		60%	£1,625
£6,001 to £7,000				£1,796
£7,001 to £8,000	10%		70%	£2,421
£8,001 to £9,000	5%	40%	35%	£1,373
£9,001 to £10,000				£1,532
£10,001 to £11,000		20%	15%	£727
£11,001 to £11,500				£778
£11,501 to £12,000	NIL		20%	£1,084
£12,001 to £13,000				£1,152
£13,001 to £14,000				£1,245
£14,001 to £15,000				£1,337
Average up to £15,000 for 2008-09				£752

 

(ii) 2009-10 and 2010-11:

Rateable Value Bands	% Small Business Rates Relief (2007-08)	% Small Business Bonus Scheme (2009-10 & 2010-11)	% Additional saving under SBBS (2009-10 & 2010-11)	£ Average Additional Saving SBBS (2009-10 & 2010-11)
up to £1,000	50%	100%	50%	£117
£1,001 to £2,000				£346
£2,001 to £3,000				£580
£3,001 to £3,500				£751
£3,501 to £4,000	40%		60%	£1,042
£4,001 to £4,500				£1,181
£4,501 to £5,000	30%		70%	£1,538
£5,001 to £5,750				£1,729
£5,751 to £6,000	20%		80%	£2,166
£6,001 to £7,000				£2,395
£7,001 to £8,000	10%		90%	£3,113
£8,001 to £9,000	5%	50%	45%	£1,766
£9,001 to £10,000				£1,970
£10,001 to £11,000		25%	20%	£969
£11,001 to £11,500				£1,038
£11,501 to £12,000	NIL		25%	£1,355
£12,001 to £13,000				£1,440
£13,001 to £14,000				£1,556
£14,001 to £15,000				£1,671
Average up to £15,000 for 2009-10 and 2010-11				£1,040

Notes:

1. To allow comparison between the new Small Business Bonus Scheme and the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme, information is given for each £1,000 rateable value band up to £15,000. Additional bands correspond to the thresholds for different percentage reliefs available under the 2007-08 Small Business Rates Relief Scheme.

2. To ensure comparability, the 2008-09 poundage rate (45.8 pence in the pound) has been used in all calculations for all years.

3. Percentage relief available under the Small Business Bonus Scheme in 2008-09 represents 80% of the full Scheme benefits, which will be available from 2009-10.

4. Rateable value thresholds for 2010-11 may be subject to change as a result of the Revaluation planned for 2010.

5. The number of eligible businesses will be lower than the number of non-domestic properties in each area, because some businesses have more than one property. This may affect eligibility for relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which will depend on:

the combined rateable value of all properties in Scotland of which the business is in rateable occupation or (if vacant) which the business is entitled to occupy;

whether the property is eligible for one of the existing rates relief schemes, and

the level of other public sector assistance received by the business.

If the Support forBorrowing line for Scottish Water was cut by £75 million, a corresponding cut inits investment programme would be required.

A cut of this sizewould mean the deferment or cancellation of many essential projects which improveservices to customers.