asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the number of years that will elapse before the costs of the Forth and Tay bridges is repaid out of tolls if the tolls remain at the present level.

Forecasts must be uncertain, but it seems that on recent trends of receipts and costs the debt on the Forth Bridge is unlikely to be repaid if tolls remain at the present level. In the last three years £434,000 of unpaid interest has been capitalised.