We will undertake a robustexamination of costs and impacts of the bridge tolls, and examine carefully anyevidence submitted by individuals and organisations in the course of the study.There is no preferred or predetermined outcome.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-26096 on 6 June. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The costs of consultancywork, temporary staff, printing, publishing and other costs associated with thetwo phase tolled bridges review total some £315,795 between 2003-04 and2005-06. The costs of officials’ time and expenses are not separatelyidentified.

A deadline has not yet beenset for the submission of tenders. A decision on whether the identities ofthose submitting tender bids will be published will be taken in due course.

Early work in preparationfor the study has been undertaken since the initial announcement on 30 March 2006, whichled to the announcement of the study details on 17 May 2006.

Phase One of the tolledbridges review included an examination of the impact of the then existingtolling structures, and the way in which potential changes to tolls could helpachieve the Scottish Executive’s environmental and economic objectives ofreducing pollution and congestion. Phase Two included an examination of thebroader issues relating to the management, operation and maintenance of thetolled bridges. Ministers’ decisions toend tolling at both Skye and Erskine bridges followed the principlesestablished in the review, and the outcomes of those examinations.

We will engage independentconsultants to carry out the study through a competitive tendering process. Itwould therefore be inappropriate to speculate on the costs of the study at thisstage.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-21720 on 10 January 2006. All answersto 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.

This information requestedis not available. Child poverty is tackled in a cross-cutting manner throughinvestment across a range of portfolios. Information on expenditure under theseprogrammes is not available at a ward area level and official information onlevels of child poverty is taken from UK datasets which do not provide breakdowns at localauthority level.

Across Scotland as a whole,since 1996-97 we have lifted 130,000 children out of relative low income(370,000 to 240,000 – after housing costs) and nearly two thirds of childrenfrom absolute low income (from 370,000 to 130,000 after housing costs).

The official source of lowincome data for Scotland is the Households Below Average Income (HBAI)dataset available from 1994-95. This is derived from the Family ResourcesSurvey (FRS). The sample size of the FRS in Scotland is relatively smalland can only be used to provide information for Scotland as a whole.

The latest information by (a)health board of residence and (b) parliamentary constituency broken down by theSocial Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 39706).

The Scottish Executiveis unable to provide a breakdown by home address postcode due to the risk of disclosure.