Chamber and committees

I will move on to some further questions on your shareholder. You have set great store by the claim that you wanted to oblige the shareholder, even though you say that it did not instruct you to carry out the actions that you have taken. Your shareholder has fundamental interests globally, but it also has fundamental strategic interests, for example in the freeports that the UK Government is developing and the green ports that are being developed here in Scotland. Do you not think that you are jeopardising not only the reputation of your shareholder but its strategic aims, which might prove to be counterproductive for its interests?

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2022 of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, which we are conducting in hybrid format. We have received apologies from the convener, Dean Lockhart, and from Mark Ruskell. I am chairing the meeting in Dean Lockhart’s absence and Brian Whittle joins us as a substitute.

Welcome to the committee, Brian. As this is the first time that you have attended as a substitute, I invite you to declare any relevant interests.

Thank you. Gordon Nelson—could you answer the same question about skills gaps and what new skills industry expects to have to develop?

Would Ian Hughes like to comment? Are we talking about full-time training, or will existing staff be retrained while they do other work?

Do you have any remorse?

I thank Mr Hebblethwaite for attending the session. In my 20-plus years as a member of the Scottish Parliament, I am not sure that I have come across an issue with an employer that has united members right across the chamber in such hostility. The people we represent—our constituents—even those who are not in the south of Scotland or in Cairnryan, are disgusted and dismayed that a company with your reputation, and a company that has shareholders with reputations, has treated people with such disrespect and such a lack of dignity at work.

However, I thank Mr Hebblethwaite for taking the time to attend the session. We will discuss the evidence that we have received later in the meeting.

I wish everyone a restful Easter break—unfortunately, that will not be the case for the many P&O workers who have suffered at the hands of this chief executive.

I thank our witnesses for taking part this morning. The committee will have a private discussion on the evidence that has been taken once the public part of our meeting has ended. If any of you have any further reflections that you want to provide to supplement your evidence, particularly on your wishes for one of your key partners, local government, we will be keen to hear from you.

The witnesses may leave the meeting, and I call a brief suspension to allow things to be set up for our next agenda item.

Welcome back. We now turn our attention to P&O Ferries. This session was scheduled following P&O’s 17 March announcement on staffing and on the suspension of services. I refer members to the papers for this item of business, which were issued by the clerks and by SPICe on Friday.

I welcome Peter Hebblethwaite, chief executive officer of P&O Ferries. I thank him for accepting our invitation at short notice and for his reply to our letter, which we received at 8.56 am today.

We have allocated one hour for this session. I understand that Mr Hebblethwaite would like to make an opening statement.

Thank you. Martyn Raine, would you like to comment on current skills gaps that are likely to increase, any anticipated new skills gaps and what your members are doing to address those gaps?

Obviously, in this inquiry, we want to focus on our witnesses’ work and relationships with local government, which procures and creates demand, too. It would be helpful if you could refer to that in your answers.