Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has received no assurance from the UK Government that the MV Pentalina or MV Alfred, are safe to operate on ferry routes in Scotland. All vessels are required to meet all relevant regulatory requirements as set out by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and any other regulatory authority.

While our aim is to release information whenever possible, due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information in this instance, we are unable to disclose the findings of the report.

Berthing trials of the MV Pentalina were carried out during the week commencing 14 June 2021, at the following ports on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network: Campbeltown, Ardrossan, Brodick, Craignure, Kennacraig, Port Ellen, Oban, Stornoway and Ullapool.

CalMac Ferries Ltd will apply its standard ticketing arrangements and fares for whatever route the MV Pentalina is operating on.

As set out in Scotland’s Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP - December, 2020) the Scottish Government is working with SDS, agencies, skills providers, industry and independent experts to design a Green Jobs Workforce Academy capable of supporting the retraining and upskilling interventions needed for the transition to net zero. As part of the 100 day manifesto commitment, phase 1 of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy will be launched by 26 August 2021.

CMAL employ a number of shipbrokers in their continuing search for second hand tonnage and engage closely with CalMac Ferries Ltd. In 2020 and up to 31 May 2021, CMAL assessed 133 vessels for possible suitability to operate on Scottish Government ferry routes.

A budget of circa £10 million was agreed to cover the necessary activities associated with the mobilisation of ScotRail Trains Ltd, in a manner that complies with the UK Government’s railway legislation. This is a significantly smaller sum than the costs to all parties which would be incurred through a procurement competition under the UK Government’s failed franchising model.

The maximum passenger and vehicle carrying capacity of the vessels in the CalMac fleet that normally operate the routes they will consider deploying the MV Pentalina on, if chartered, are detailed in the following table.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00457 on 14 June 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government, unlike the UK Government, included a requirement within the Scottish High Level Output Specification (HLOS) for Network Rail (NR) to take action on climate change during this Regulatory Control Period.

For the period 2019-2024, the Scottish Government is providing funding to support a 21% increase in NR spending on operation, maintenance and renewal activities on the Scottish rail network. This is in line with the Office of Rail and Road’s independent determination of costs necessary to deliver safety, performance and resilience requirements, including Climate Change action.

In March of this year, NR published two reports from independently commissioned experts following the derailment at Carmont. The work was a recommendation from the NR Interim Report on the Carmont derailment published in September 2020, to establish two task forces examining in detail NR’s GB wide management of extreme weather and earthworks.