Chamber and committees

Graham Simpson has been name checked a couple of times, so he can ask a couple of questions at the end.

I am pretty sure that Alison Irvine will have told them to watch this last segment anyway.

We have come to the end of a fairly long session. I thank the cabinet secretary for sticking with us and responding to all the answers as best she could. That concludes the public part of today’s meeting.

I am sorry to ask the question. It was just for the record.

Although ScotRail is the employer, does a pay deal have to be signed off by the Government, or can ScotRail sign off any figure that it wants to?

I do not think that five years, which is when the committee first recommended that the tripartite agreement was revamped, is overnight. Five years is quite a long time. Any business in the world that did not respond to something that was recommended five years ago would probably find themselves without the necessary infrastructure. That is probably where we find ourselves with Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa—there is not the infrastructure in the port to allow them to use the port that they were supposed to be in or the liquid natural gas tanks to be there. I understand your comments, but I have to say that I find them disappointing.

Let us go back to 1 October 2016, when the Clyde and Hebrides ferries contract was awarded to CalMac. There was lots of noise and it was wonderful news that it was going to improve things for Scotland. We are now in the situation where the contract is due to expire at the end of September, but we are still not in a position to find out what will happen, because the correct investigations into what can and cannot be done have not been carried out.

The Government must have known eight years ago, when it awarded the contract, that a decision would have to be made last year—not this year, but last year—to allow the tender process to happen, but nothing has happened. Can you explain to me why that is an acceptable situation to be in?

When will the new scheme be in place?

Before we leave the subject of levies, I point out that the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 suggested the introduction of workplace parking levies, which were critical to the introduction or delivery of the 20 per cent reduction in car mileage. A straight yes or no answer: are you pushing that with local councils, or are you not?

Would you like to see those levies in place?

No: I think it would be a nice place to break after that.

Good—I did not want to misname your role. I also welcome from Transport Scotland Kerry Twyman, director of finance and corporate services, and Fiona Brown, interim director of transport strategy and analysis. I think that the cabinet secretary wants to make brief opening remarks.