Chamber and committees

The terms and conditions of any employees accompanying a time chartered vessel are the responsibility of the vessel’s owner/operator. When necessary the Scottish Government has ensured that crews working on vessels time chartered by CalMac Ferries Ltd receive the National Living Wage.

(a) Scottish Government and (b) Transport Scotland officials have (i) & (ii) not held any discussions with Professor Iain Docherty in relation to his Scotland’s Railway after the pandemic report.

Transport Scotland, as part of the Rail Recovery Task Force, uses Transport Focus’s passenger pulse research to identify the changing priorities and requirements of rail passengers during and post Covid-19 which also provide a platform to assess the scale and pace of recovery from Covid 19 and, in particular, the potential to move towards our policy vision of an integrated public sector controlled railway.

Transport Scotland is pressing ahead to put in place arrangements to mobilise a wholly owned company of the Scottish Government to provide ScotRail services when the current franchise expires as expected on 31 March 2022.

Permission from the Scottish Government was not required by Abellio ScotRail to commission Professor Iain Docherty to produce the Scotland’s Railway after the pandemic report.

The clause in the Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd franchise that permits the operator, from 1 April 2022, to seek adjustments to the financial terms of the Franchise Agreement, or exit the contract, cannot be instigated by the Scottish Government. As per the Franchise Agreement, this must be requested by Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd.

The Scottish Government will provide funding to support the chartering the MV Arrow by CalMac Ferries Ltd to assist the resilience on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network. The cost of the current time charter negotiated between CalMac Ferries Ltd and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is £588,000 excluding fuel and harbour dues.

The Scottish Government has made no assessment of the additional cost to CalMac Ferries Ltd for chartering the MV arrow in line with collective bargaining agreements. The crew of the MV Arrow are employed by Seatruck Ltd, who own the vessel and terms and conditions are a matter for that company.

The Scottish Government agreed with CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL) that the crew of the MV Arrow, though not covered by CFL terms and conditions or collective bargaining agreements, should receive the National Living Wage for the duration of the charter .

The crew of the MV Arrow, whilst on a time charter with CalMac Ferries Ltd, will be employed by the vessel owner Seatruck Ferries Ltd.

The Scottish Government were not part of the negotiations regarding the time charter agreement of the MV Arrow. These were undertaken between CalMac Ferries Ltd and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

The Scottish Government continues to work under the interim Subsidy Control regime introduced by the UK Government on 1 January 2021 and provisions held within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Alongside this, consideration has to be given to any further UK Subsidy Control obligations such as World Trade Organisation membership and commitments arising from international treaties and Fair Trade Agreements to which the United Kingdom is a party.

The UK Government introduced a Bill on Subsidy Control to Parliament on 30 June 2021 with a view to implementation of a permanent Subsidy Control regime.

Officials will continue to diligently work through the UK Government’s proposals to understand the impact on subsidies, including on ferry services.