Chamber and committees

I apologise profusely.

It is difficult, Monica. We are talking about the design and construction of ferries. If you want to put that question to Pentland Ferries, I suggest that this particular session might not be the place to do so.

Helen Inkster and Gordon Ross have made it clear that safety will be designed into their boats as a prerequisite, because their passengers are important. I am happy to let you develop the point outwith this session, but I think that you are pushing on an area that I am not sure is relevant to this part.

As we will be reporting on the outcome of the instrument, I seek the committee’s authority to delegate to me, as convener, the authority to approve the draft and report on its publication to the Parliament. Are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

Perfect. I thank the minister and her officials for their time.

Okay. You mentioned that, and I am interested in it. I know that CalMac is looking to charge islanders for delivering parcels from third parties such as Amazon to islands with a low number of inhabitants. CalMac suggests that it would cost it a quarter of a million pounds every year to provide that service to islanders on islands such as Raasay, rather than making a lorry go across with one package. Are you saying that you would view that as part of being in the community?

Agenda item 7 is consideration of a negative instrument. As the instrument has been laid under the negative procedure, its provisions will come into force unless the Parliament agrees a motion to annul them. No such motion has been lodged.

Do members have any comments?

Helen Inkster, will you plead the fifth on that as well?

So, having identified the passenger need and the demand for the service, you both went ahead and designed a boat. The reason that I am pushing slightly on this issue is that I watched the design process for 801 and 802; it was done by CalMac, and then it went up to CMAL and then to Transport Scotland. Those bodies have all had a measure of involvement in the process and they have all changed the demands slightly, so we have ended up with a ferry that has more capacity for passengers than has ever been used on that route previously and a demand for vehicles on one particular service that probably exists for only 10 per cent of the year. Meanwhile, you have gone for smaller, more flexible designs that can be ramped up or down as required.

Do you think that the Government procurement process for ferries is cumbersome? Is that the way in which ferries in Scotland should be built in the future?

Thank you, cabinet secretary. Are there any questions?

Is it right to say that a dropped kerb in a parking bay, which has been put there to allow lorries to unload in a loading bay, could never be blocked without an exemption order being put in place?