Chamber and committees

Thank you very much, Cliff. That was definitely worth the wait. We certainly want to put that spotlight on what is possible and how it can be done. Thank you again for that contribution. We have learned a lot from it.

Based on what you said earlier, would it be fair to say that your focus for the next five years will probably be on electricians, heat pumps and areas like that?

I want to look ahead to what will come next, after project Neptune. There is a variety of strategic thinking on ferry operations, procurement and asset ownership at various points and in different arrangements, and there are different options on the table. How do you know that Transport Scotland is doing its job?

But what improvements can be made? That is what I am trying to tease out.

Will you set out on the record why the Scottish Government does not favour the option of unbundling the routes? What advantages do you see in keeping with the status quo in that regard?

Is that because you are focusing on resilience and reliability, which is what we have heard? We heard from our witnesses from Norway that innovation can come from unbundling. Do you believe that, as CMAL is the monopoly provider and CalMac is the operator, we have different market conditions and a different experience?

Islanders are telling us that they need reliability, but we are obviously seeing more cancellations because of the weather. What actions are you taking to mitigate changing weather? We know that stormier weather is coming through climate change and so on. What are you doing to mitigate weather pattern changes and rising sea levels as you procure new vessels and invest in harbour facilities?

—bearing in mind that you also have the issues that have already gone through in terms of alignment with the UK, and that the UK, also for reasons of trade with the EU, is fairly aligned with the EU in terms of subsidy issues. It will therefore be quite interesting to see how much scope there is even with the UK being outside the EU.

I thank the witnesses for joining us this morning. Our inquiry is future facing and will inform the islands connectivity plan that is due. What role did CMAL play in project Neptune? Can you explore the issues that affected CMAL in relation to that project?

I want to explore what might happen. I do not want to put you in a difficult position, but it would be helpful for the committee to understand what the benefits and disbenefits would be if there was a merger between CMAL and CalMac Ferries. That would help us to understand some of the issues with that relationship and what a future relationship might look like.