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A90 (Road Safety)
3. Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will undertake an urgent review of road safety on the A90 with particular reference to the Forfar, Angus stretch. [2331]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Malcolm Chisholm): Road safety at the Glamis and Kirriemuir junctions on the A90 Forfar bypass is closely monitored on a regular basis. Additional signing has recently been approved and will be installed shortly.
Mr. Swinney: Will the Minister find time in his busy day to take the opportunity, as I did yesterday, to view five minutes of video footage from Tayside police showing some of the horrors that take place at those two junctions? There is an urgent need for a safety review and a medium-term strategy for a graded junction to be built, including an underpass. Will the Minister give a commitment that the Government will consider that as an early priority?
Mr. Chisholm: I will, of course, look at the video footage. I am concerned about the number of accidents that have occurred at the junctions in spite of numerous
accident investigations and prevention measures, including the new one to which I referred. I shall also look at the case for grade separation. Let me say more generally that safety will be a key criterion in the roads review to be announced later this week.Government Spending
4. Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on per capita government spending in Scotland. [2332]
The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Donald Dewar): Identifiable general government expenditure per head in Scotland was £4,614 in 1995-96, the last year for which complete figures are available.
Mrs. Winterton: Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that per capita expenditure in Scotland is 24.6 per cent. higher than in England? Bearing that in mind, why should the United Kingdom Parliament continue to vote extra funding for Scotland if Scotland has its own tax-raising powers? Will not the Assembly cost Scotland's people dear?
Mr. Dewar: No, I do not agree with the hon. Lady. If she is concerned about the way in which we organise our expenditure allocation in the United Kingdom, she will recognise that the system has been well established for many years under the previous Government, whom I think she supported. If she wants to get into an argument, no doubt she will wish to look at the health statistics, the population sparsity statistics and the economic deprivation statistics and recognise that the United Kingdom is a partnership in which we pool our resources and allocate them on an agreed basis.
Mr. Doran: Is my right hon. Friend aware of the serious problems affecting in particular the north-east of Scotland, due to drug abuse, which may merit much higher expenditure in Scotland? He may have seen press reports of the death of four people in Aberdeen in the past few days due to drug misuse and overdoses. When he considers public expenditure in Scotland, will he give a commitment that the fight against drugs will remain a high priority in the Government's programme?
Mr. Dewar: I share my hon. Friend's concerns, as I think will the whole House. That is the reason why we have given particular prominence to drug-related measures in the Scottish Office block, and why I and, to be fair, the leaders of other parties in the House support Scotland Against Drugs and give it our energetic and active help.
Mr. Wallace: Does the Secretary of State agree that the kind of question asked by the hon. Member for Congleton (Mrs. Winterton), and the thinking behind it, are among the reasons why there are no Scottish Conservative Members present today? Indeed, Opposition Front Benchers have such a tenuous hold that they have had to put in Prayers cards to keep their seats. Any party that truly believes in the United Kingdom would recognise that the principle of equalisation underpins the Union. Following last week's uncertainty about the future
of the Barnett-Goschen formula, will the Secretary of State confirm that, as the partners of the Scottish Constitutional Convention agreed, the
- "current formula for the calculation of government expenditure in Scotland will continue to be used as the basis for the allocation of Scotland's fair share of UK resources"?
Mr. Dewar: There you are. All I was going to say was that the power of prayer is something that the main Opposition party will have to rely on very often in the months ahead. I suspect that a few Opposition Members are on their knees even at this moment.
On the points made by the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace), I should emphasise the well-established nature of the present arrangements--the block and formula system. The White Paper on devolution will set out the position very clearly, as my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury made clear on 11 June, when he emphasised that the Government believe that the formula plays a very important part in the allocation of public expenditure.
Dr. Godman:
Although these are early days--my right hon. Friend has been in office only six weeks--what progress has he made in targeting funding towards the national health service in Scotland and our education system? Those matters are of considerable importance to many of my constituents, particularly in the light of the long waiting lists at the local hospital that were the fault of what is now a largely rural English party.
Mr. Dewar:
We are trying, where we can, to reorder priorities in a way of which I think my hon. Friend would approve. A number of early measures were taken within this year's budget that resulted in £13 million going to the education budget, particularly for literacy and other such problems, and £10 million being found to transfer to the health service budget, with a particular target of reducing specified areas of waiting lists in the NHS.
5. Mr. Maude:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of Scottish local government revenue support in the current year. [2333]
Mr. Chisholm:
The 1997-98 local government finance settlement set the level of non-housing revenue support at £5,256.7 million.
Mr. Maude:
Will the Minister confirm that that estimate includes provision for a full inquiry into alleged corruption in Glasgow, Govan?
Mr. Chisholm:
That is not the issue in that money. The people of Glasgow of course have the right to expect the highest standards of conduct, and that is precisely what they will get. We are looking forward to the Nolan committee's report on aspects of local government.
Mr. Gorrie:
In the light of information that the Minister now has, do the Government want to continue to
Mr. Chisholm:
The hon. Gentleman knows full well that we made it clear during the election that we would keep within the levels of inherited expenditure for two years. Having made the promise, we shall deliver it. Of course, the settlement was tight and we realise that it will cause difficulties next year, but we made the promise and we shall carry it through.
6. Mr. Charles Kennedy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his discussions with the Highland council in respect of the Skye bridge tolls. [2334]
Mr. Dewar:
I am meeting senior members of the Highland council to discuss the Skye bridge on 23 June.
Mr. Kennedy:
Will the Secretary of State take the opportunity to clarify the perhaps unfortunate impression given by the Minister with responsibility for transport in a television interview in Scotland last week when he was asked about the Labour party commitment that the discussions next week will take place against the backdrop of the unambiguous Labour party commitment--given locally during the election and nationally by the Minister--that it would work with the Highland council on a strategy for the abolition of the tolls? Will the Secretary of State confirm that that remains the context in which the discussions will take place? Does he agree that the atmosphere of those discussions would be assisted immeasurably locally if the Lord Advocate were to take early action to suspend, if not terminate and announce a complete amnesty on, the criminal charges against all those currently before the sheriff court?
Mr. Dewar:
I appreciate the importance of the issue in the highlands and I recognise that the hon. Gentleman has long campaigned on it. I also appreciate the pressures that he is under from his constituents. We shall approach the talks constructively, but he must recognise that we have inherited a contract and any improvement will cost money that must be found from the Scottish block and, specifically, from the roads budget. That is a difficulty for us. All I can say is that the review will be intended to produce improvements, if possible, and a way forward by agreement, if that is possible. As for the hon. Gentleman's point about prosecution policy, the best way to solve that is for people not to break the law.
Mr. Salmond:
On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker:
I take points of order after questions.
Mr. Salmond:
On this question.
Madam Speaker:
No. I have dealt with this issue before and the point of order must come after questions.
Mr. Salmond:
On this question.
Madam Speaker:
The hon. Gentleman is using up the time of other Members who have questions down and the right to put them.
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