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Following a detailed option appraisal review the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme Board (EGIP) have confirmed that The Garngad Chord is not required in order to realise the EGIP journey time objectives.

The last cost estimate for the construction of the Garngad Chord was £52 million.

Yes, the Scottish Executive considers the schemes to lengthen railway station platforms in Ayrshire and Inverclyde, where the new class 380 trains are in operation, to have been a success.

These platform extensions were delivered within budget and had no impact on services during construction and minimal disruption to customers.

This programme of platform extensions and previously extended platforms across the network have enabled ScotRail to operate longer trains on many services. This additional capacity has contributed to passenger journeys on ScotRail services increasing by 25.5% since the start of the Franchise in October 2004.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to extend the length of any railway station platforms as part of its current programme of investment in rail.

Anybody can ask a local authority to consider an area for housing renewal area designation. However, only a local authority can decide to use the housing renewal area powers and can only designate an area as a housing renewal area if it considers that a significant number of houses within the area are sub-standard or the appearance or state of repair of any houses in the area is adversely affecting the amenity of that locality.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34796 on 14 July 2010. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government has collected data on household expenditure on fuel for motoring through the Scottish Household Survey since 1999. This was published on 31 August 2011 in Table 2 of Transport and Travel in Scotland 2010, previously Household Transport, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Transport-Travel/Tatis.

The survey does not collect data on total household expenditure.

The Office for National Statistics has collected data on household expenditure since 1957 through the Living Costs and Food Survey, and its predecessors. Data for expenditure on petrol and diesel and total household expenditure in Scotland over the last 10 years is published in Scottish Transport Statistics 2010, table 10.9 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/12/17120002/161.

When a local authority has identified an area for housing renewal designation it must inform the owner and occupier of each house in the area. The local authority must provide a proposed draft designation order which includes reasons for choosing the area, an action plan and a map. There is then a minimum three month consultation during which owners can make representations about both the creation and individual aspects of the HRA. After the consultation the local authority can modify the order but cannot extend it.

Owners can also appeal to the sheriff against the local authority’s decision to issue a work notice, demolition notice or maintenance order as part of the implementation of a housing renewal area.

The term “independent advocacy” is defined under section 259(5) of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

The act identifies that every person with a mental disorder (as defined under section 328) has a right to access advocacy services which must be provided by persons other than a local authority or a health board responsible for providing services in the area where the patient is to receive care or treatment, or a member of those bodies or any other person involved in their care treatment or in providing services to them. The act also identifies the need for independent advocacy organisations to have policies in place to identify and manage/minimise the risk of any conflict of interest.

The act’s code of practice makes clear that independent advocacy must be divorced from the interests of those persons concerned with a patient’s care and welfare. In order to achieve this, the code goes on to identify that “independent advocacy should be provided by an organisation whose sole role is independent advocacy or whose other tasks either complement, or do not conflict with, the provision of independent advocacy. If the independent advocacy service or advocate has a conflict of interest, they should inform all relevant parties of this, and should withdraw from acting for the patient.”

Participation of children and young people in learning and the life of the school is an important part of the new curriculum.

For some children, the provision of advocacy services will be necessary in order to support their participation. Independent advocacy provision has an important role to play, particularly given the right of certain children and young people to access such services under the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Section 259(5) of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 identifies that every person with a mental disorder (as defined under section 328) has a right to access independent advocacy services. This includes children.

The funding of independent advocacy services is the responsibility of local authorities and the NHS. Since 2005-06 overall funding for local authorities has included £13 million per year to help them implement the act, of which advocacy is an important part. Similarly, £5 million per year has been made available to NHS boards to help them deliver the act.

There are a significant number of children who fall outwith the scope of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 but who still require some form of advocacy support. In September of last year, the Scottish Government established the National Steering Group on Advocacy Support for Children and Young People. The Steering Group is currently working to develop a set of core principles and standards to be applied whenever advocacy support is being provided to children and young people.