§ Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to contain freight rates on the North Isles routes in Orkney; and why trials of a side loading vessel have not been approved.
§ Mr. MillanI shall be offering revenue grant of £365,000 to Orkney Islands Ship-ping Company Ltd. for 1978–79 of which £286,500 relates to the estimated deficit on the North Isles routes. The corresponding figures for 1977–78 were £305,000 and £245,000.
The technical information which would be likely to be obtained from the proposed trial of a side loading vessel on the North Isles services did not justify additional grant to meet the cost of the charter of a vessel at £700 per day.
Regional Councils 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 Borders … … 12,623,619 16,490,122 16,890,262 Central … … 24,954,367 32,600,222 33,646,328 Dumfries and Galloway … … 16,324,910 20,990,076 22,307,381 Fife … … 36,798,362 46,898,890 50,071,447 Grampian … … 51,296,441 68,645,946 71,144,295 Highland … … 29,060,681 37,109,729 39,279,917 Lothian … … 80,532,805 104,259,415 111,525,838 Strathclyde … … 302,083,713 383,736,045 414,595,077 Tayside … … 44,020,907 56,812,871 58,034,021 Islands Councils Orkney … … 3,734,548 4,299,065 3,911,902 Shetland … … 4,870,968 5,197,225 6,501,680 Western Isles … … 7,582,135 9,018,701 10,534,923
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what was the amount of Government ex-expenditure, for each year from and including 1967 to date, on trunk roads and motorways in Scotland;
(2) what was the overall cost of the trunk roads and motorways in each year from and including 1967 to date.
§ Mr. McElhoneExpenditure from 1967–78 on trunk roads and on motorways for which the Secretary of State is responsible in Scotland was as shown in the following table: