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Transport Scotland has taken account of the growth predictions outlined in the business case for the Airdrie to Bathgate project, as well as Network Rail''s Route Utilisation Strategy in the planning of rolling stock procurement.

The updated business case which was revised in December 2008 indicates that during the busiest time of day between 7 am and 7 pm additional passenger boardings are anticipated to be 13,878.

Transport Scotland remains committed to ensuring that sufficient supplies of trains are provided to meet projected passenger demand on the Scottish Rail network and continues to work with the franchisee on meeting demand.

The procurement of rolling stock is being managed and funded by First ScotRail through the terms of the recent Franchise Extension. The anticipated additional cost of train provision on Airdrie to Bathgate is consistent with business case assumptions, but the amount is commercially confidential.

An additional 38 electric trains are being procured for Scotland. The new trains will operate primarily on Ayrshire and Inverclyde but will provide an overall increase in the electric rolling stock fleet that will enable the delivery of planned new services on Airdrie to Bathgate rail link through the redeployment of existing trains.

It is currently proposed to utilise the class 334 Juniper type electrical multiple unit for services east of Airdrie to Edinburgh Waverley via Bathgate, the seating and number of coaches are as follows:

(a) 183 standard class seats.

(b) Three coach units.

It should be noted that a number of peak services will operate as 2x3 coach units.

It is currently proposed to utilise the class 334 Juniper type electrical multiple unit for all services east of Airdrie to Edinburgh Waverley via Bathgate. This is subject to discussion and agreement with the current franchise operator, First ScotRail.

The trains used on the Helensburgh to Airdrie line are part of a larger fleet which works the North Clyde network. Therefore carriage and seat numbers are not available specifically for the Helensburgh to Airdrie Line. The number of carriages in the North Clyde fleet is 99 and these are equipped with 5,772 seats. The trains used on this service are either in three or six carriage formation. Seating varies between train types, and the number of seats per three carriage train varies between 183 and 219.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24353 on 10 June 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The projections for future growth in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) provided at the Finance Committee were taken from the following sources:

The UK Budget 2009 forecasts that debt interest payments will grow by 8.4% a year in real terms between 2011-12 and 2013-14.

Forecasts published by the Department of Work and Pensions in May 2008 as part of their long-term expenditure projections imply that spending on benefits and tax credits are expected to increase by at least 1.7% a year in real terms over this period.

Other elements of AME, such as contributions to the European Commission, are also expected to increase in future years. At the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review these other elements of AME were forecast to grow by 1.9% a year during 2009-10 and 2010-11. They are assumed to grow at a similar rate between 2011-12 and 2013-14.

The accelerated capital for 2008-09 has been allocated as follows:

2008-09 Capital Acceleration	Amount £m
Major roads schemes including A96 Fochabers bypass and A75 improvements	3.0
Smaller roads schemes including the improvements to A9 junctions	1.5
Rail Related Schemes	1.0
Further Acceleration-roads	20.2
Enterprise - Scottish Enterprise will spend £5m of advanced capital expenditure during this financial year on the expansion to the SECC	5.0
Finance and Sustainable Growth total	30.7
Local Government Total - Schools	10.0
Health and Wellbeing Total “ Housing Accelerated Housing Investment Programme	5.0
Further Education-To be used to create improved campuses for colleges and universities across Scotland	2.5
Higher Education To be used to create improved campuses for colleges and universities across Scotland	5.0
ELL Total	7.5
Overall Total	53.2

The accelerated capital for 2009-10 has been allocated as follows:

2009-10 Capital Acceleration*	Amount £m
Major roads schemes including A96 Fochabers bypass and A75 improvements	17.0
Smaller roads schemes including the improvements to A9 junctions	6.9
Strategic Park and Ride	5.0
Enterprise Agencies	30.0
Further capital acceleration	7.0
Finance and Sustainable Growth Total	65.9
Housing: Affordable Housing Investment Programme	10.0
NHS	50.0
Town Centre Regeneration Fund	60.0
Health and Wellbeing Total	120.0
Higher and Further Education	13.0
Education and Lifelong Learning Total	13.0
Fisheries and rural development	5.6
Environment and Rural Affairs Total	5.6
Local Authorities including Schools Estate	90.0
Local Government Total	90.0
Overall Total	294.5

Final outturn for 2008-09 will be reported shortly. 2009-10 accelerated capital will be spent during the course of the current year.

The Scottish Government''s position is that recalculating the Scottish budgets for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to exclude the effects of end-year flexibility (EYF) and capital acceleration does not alter the amount of money actually available to support public services. Using figures published by the Treasury itself in the Budget 2009 Red Book, the Scottish Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) budget was scheduled to rise in cash terms from £29.1 billion in 2009-10 to £29.3 billion in 2010-11. This cash terms increase of £200 million (rounded to the nearest £100 million) represents a real terms reduction of about 1% using Treasury''s published GDP deflator for 2010-11 of 1.5%.

The Chief Inspector of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will take up post subject to formal completion of the appointment process and the period of notice which will be required by the successful candidate''s current employer. Negotiations are currently underway with the successful candidate''s current employer to secure as early a release date as possible.