Chamber and committees

Thanks—I appreciate that.

Another issue is about a potential path to permanent settlement in the UK. The vast majority of Ukrainian people whom we meet wish to return home, but some of them may wish to stay. Understanding what that path to permanent settlement might be is important for them in weighing up options. Is there clarity on that? If not, what can you do to try to get clarity for those who have the power to decide?

Right—because it reflects the circumstances of how the offence perhaps came to be. It is a very technical regulation, but that brings me to the end of my questions.

I do not have much more to add to those points. There is a proportionate approach in the regulations. The introduction of civil penalties makes sense and is in line with the approach that industry wants. The critical thing right now is building certainty with the DRS, and, clearly, some of the public narrative is about undermining it and attempting to show that the scheme will perhaps not be introduced, but I have confidence that it will be introduced and will be a success. The order is an important part of putting in place another part of the scheme to ensure that there is that business certainty and that business knows what is coming and what the penalties will be if there is a failure to apply the scheme adequately.

What will the timescale be for the circulation of the draft report?

Has there been a collaborative discussion with Transport Scotland on that? I do not think that it sits within the strategic transport projects review—it is not a national project—but it is clearly a significant local project.

Further to the previous question, the architects of the road equivalent tariff scheme gave evidence to the committee last week. They made quite a persuasive case for how RET needs to be changed, scrapped or reformed. Have you anything further to say on that in relation to fares?

Is there a perspective from Highland Council?

Are you saying that the connectivity plan is too narrow?

It is the witnesses’ views that I am interested in. It would be good to explore the subject in a little more detail. The deputy convener and I met the Faroese Government recently, and we are aware that there is a huge amount of investment in fixed links in the Faroes. Has there been much thinking about the financing mechanism for tunnels? You mentioned the £400 million versus the £20 million investment in ferries that is required just for maintenance. It would be useful to get a bit more information in a financial model about how you envisage that working with the Scottish Government’s capital budgets or other forms of financing.

That would be useful. I wonder what the conversation has been like with particular sectors. In the Faroes, there was a lot of discussion with the aquaculture industry there on its contribution towards fixed links. There is not an actual model in place for how you might fund this, but I am wondering whether, in making contributions—you mentioned tolling—there are particular sectors that could step up.