Chamber and committees

There do not seem to be any further questions. You are getting an easy ride, cabinet secretary.

Good morning, and welcome to the seventh meeting in 2023 of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

Agenda item 1 is consideration of whether to take agenda item 7 in private. Under agenda item 7, the committee will consider the evidence that it has heard as part of our inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland. I remind the committee that, at our previous meeting, the consideration of evidence, which we agreed to take in private, was deferred. We will consider that evidence today. Do members agree to take agenda item 7 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The figure is 2,053 in this financial year, which is up from 1,100 the year before, so it is not insubstantial.

I will mention the reasons that jump out at me and which I cannot understand. The figure for “force majeure”, which is within your control, has doubled since last year. The figure for “mechanical problems” has gone up from 498 to 1,678, which seems a huge leap. I also do not understand “Scot Government approved cancellations”, which have leapt from 485 to 1,551.

I understand that. Roughly 1,600 cancellations were down to mechanical problems, and there were about 1,500 Scottish Government approved ones. I am confused by that. I think that the figures need a bit more clarification because, on the face of it, they are quite concerning, given the way that they have been produced. You are saying that mechanical problems and force majeure events, which effectively account for 3,600-odd cancellations, are within your control. We then have 1,500 cancellations, which is just under half of that, that were Government approved. What does the Government approve?

That NorthLink perspective is interesting, but my analogy is probably a good one for 801 and 802, which do not seem to fit the requirements of anyone. At this stage, I question whether liquefied natural gas will ever be commissioned on 802, but that is a different story.

If we add up the figures for force majeure, mechanical problems and Scottish Government approved cancellations, the total is jolly nearly more than the figure for cancellations that were caused by adverse weather. The same amount are down to things that are within your control and to the weather, which you cannot control. That is concerning.

Sorry—I got slightly distracted there. I return to the deputy convener.

Jackie Dunbar is next.

Robbie Drummond, thank you for not correcting me. Of course I made a mistake when I referred to Ardrossan to Mull; I meant Ardrossan to Arran. At 10 to 1 this morning we had evidence submitted to us from Mull, which probably meant that Mull was at the forefront of my mind from the early hours, so I apologise for that and thank you for not correcting me. I have corrected myself before anyone else does.

Sorry, I am slightly confused. Why do you employ them in Guernsey and not employ them at home? Are there tax advantages from doing that?