Chamber and committees

Thank you.

That, and the level at which such decisions are taken. At what level would you expect a decision of such magnitude to be taken?

I just have a very quick comment.

I am reasonably disappointed by the Scottish Government’s response, in that it just goes over what it has said before. There is not an awful lot that is different in it.

I note that the National Services Division has not yet responded although, at the time of the previous meeting, it said that it was working with NHS Tayside and was due to meet it at the end of January. It also said that it might be able to consider a formal application in either May or June. It is important to keep the petition open until summer, so that we can see what conclusion the National Services Division reaches.

Mary Ramsay has pointed out that a number of people are affected by the condition, so it is important that we make some progress. Mary has also stated that she would be happy to give further evidence to the committee, if it wishes, and Ian Sharp, who has benefited from focused ultrasound treatment, has also made that offer.

I encourage the committee to keep the petition open and to keep scrutinising the issue in the hope that we make some progress.

The alternative arrangements that will be in place while Uig harbour is adapted will mean that there will be a third less freight capacity for Uist. That is unacceptable, especially as the closure will last for six months. It will impact on everybody on those islands and will put businesses in jeopardy.

Will the minister ensure that there will be no decrease in freight capacity during the closure period? Will he do everything in his power to speed up the timeframe for the works?

It is desperately sad that the Scottish Government’s mismanagement has had such a devastating impact on the communities that depend on lifeline ferry services; £250 million has been squandered, and that cost is likely to rise.

As Mercedes Villalba said, the impact on the communities that are served by these ferries is immeasurable. Businesses are losing millions of pounds due to lack of capacity and cancelled ferries, and island food and fish exports are rotting on the pier, which has a direct impact on the islands’ economy. The social cost is immeasurable, which Alex Cole-Hamilton talked about.

The allocation of the contracts to Ferguson Marine should have been a step towards building a thriving shipbuilding industry on the Clyde, but the SNP’s mismanagement has delivered nothing but chaos. Instead of putting that right, it now procures ferries from Turkey rather than the Clyde. What are the working conditions in Turkey? Do they comply with fair work practices? What community benefits are being provided by those contracts? As Neil Bibby said, we need a full public inquiry into what went wrong.

In 2019, Tim Hair was appointed as turnaround director in the yard. Emails obtained through freedom of information requests showed that the appointment was rushed through. Tim Hair was paid £2 million to turn around the yard, but the ferries have been delayed yet again. While ministers have come and gone, the First Minister has been a constant presence throughout this fiasco. We need a personal guarantee from her that she will take ministerial responsibility for the delivery of those vessels, with no more delays.

Audit Scotland’s damning report highlights how Scottish ministers ignored warnings and awarded the contract to a builder that could not meet basic contract guarantees. Neither Kate Forbes nor Nicola Sturgeon can explain why the normal financial safeguards were not put in place or why they ignored the warnings from CMAL. There is no written evidence as to why ministers pressed ahead and accepted the terms of the contract without a full builder’s refund guarantee.

The First Minister says that “the buck stops with” her, but she bears none of the consequences of the huge failure, and she subsequently pointed the finger at Derek Mackay. As Alex Cole-Hamilton said, Jim McColl, the previous owner of Ferguson’s, has suggested that the contract was awarded for “political” reasons, so that the SNP could announce it at Nicola Sturgeon’s first conference.

We believe that the First Minister must now show leadership and ensure that these ferries are delivered with no further delays and that the reputation of Ferguson’s is restored. She must instigate a national ferry procurement and building programme to ensure that CalMac’s ageing fleet is renewed and—as Mercedes Villalba highlighted—that the benefits of these contracts remain in Scotland. She must ensure that the structures surrounding our lifeline ferry services are fit for purpose and allow CalMac to work with communities to build the ferries that those communities need. Finally, we need a public inquiry so that the lessons are learned and we never see a fiasco like this repeated in the future.

The minister’s statement is vital and detailed, especially regarding the green lairds who have already been buying up huge swathes of Scotland. Will she bring forward proposals to regulate our land market to stop land being bought and used when there is no public interest? Will she confirm whether the right of pre-emption for communities will mean that they no longer have to register an interest in land?

I join Douglas Ross in paying tribute to Keep MUM and the maternity voices campaigners in Moray, who have been calling for consultant-led maternity services. I welcome the promise to reinstate consultant-led maternity services at Dr Gray’s and the very much needed investment at Dr Gray’s and Raigmore, but I cannot welcome the short-term option. The cabinet secretary tells us that he is listening to what those involved are telling him, but he is obviously not hearing what they say.

Clinicians from NHS Highland wrote to the cabinet secretary in February, saying:

“The Board did acknowledge on this occasion that the staffing and built environmental requirements for Model 4 cannot be met in the timescale proposed by the Report”—

meaning in two years. That is of profound significance, as it confirms that model 4 is not an option for the short term. In addition, they said:

“Our lead paediatrician gave his opinion that our neonatal facility is at capacity and that any increase in birth rate at Raigmore before major upgrading to staffing and facility will put babies at risk.”

They went on to make the point clearly that model 4 is also not a feasible option because they are unable to fill current staffing vacancies and existing staff are facing burn-out. Many of those points were also made to the cabinet secretary by the chief executive and community campaigners in Moray at meetings that I also attended.

Will the cabinet secretary therefore reconsider model 4, because it is simply not safe? Will he outline what he is going to do in the short term to keep mums in Moray safe?

Being a good food nation means that people should have adequate access to food, too. This week, I heard of a really sad case of an elderly person who ended up in hospital due to starvation, not because they did not have food, but because they did not have the electricity to cook it. What support has the cabinet secretary given to groups that are trying to help people in that situation access both food and the means to cook it?

We all know, and the cabinet secretary knows, that the blame for the fiasco sits squarely with her Government. Will she guarantee to members that those boats will come into service for our outer island communities?

I associate myself with Neil Bibby’s comments on P&O. Our ferry workers provide lifeline services and should not be treated in the way that they have been. I pay tribute to CalMac workers, who also provide lifeline services. Neither they nor the workers in Ferguson’s are responsible for the situation that we find ourselves in.

Let us be clear that the blame for the ferry fiasco lies squarely at the door of the Scottish Government. CMAL told the Government, in no uncertain terms, that the FMEL contract that it was entering into was a huge risk, but the Government ignored the warning. Scottish ministers decided to steamroller on and, as Graham Simpson said, we still do not know why, because the decision and its reasons were not documented. That decision involved an estimated £97 million of public money, and we do not have properly documented reasoning for it. The decision has now cost two and a half times that amount and we do not even have a rowboat to show for it; only Jackie Dunbar can see that as an achievement.

The minister must tell us today why those decisions were made, because that lack of transparency is absolutely unacceptable. It is not just about an incompetent Government that squandered public money while taking selfies in front of ferries with painted-on windows; it is about the communities that the ferries serve. People cannot get to hospital or go to funerals, and businesses are failing because they cannot get their products off-island. The Government is responsible for boosting the economy, not killing it.

Ariane Burgess talked about three families leaving Uist but, because of the ferries fiasco, they will not be the only ones. Some businesses are losing thousands of pounds with each failed sailing. On a smaller scale, others are losing their weekly income at the same time as they face rising costs.

Katy Clark talked about the need for communities to be involved in planning the ferry fleet. If they had been involved, we would not be in this mess now.

CalMac has just suffered one of the worst winters in its history and has had to do so with one hand tied behind its back. Creaky vessels are having frequent technical breakdowns; vessels are not equipped for a changing climate and worsening weather; the infrastructure does not allow flexible deployment of vessels where and when they are needed; and there is not enough funding to allow ferries to operate at full capacity, even when we place aside Covid impacts on crews. I am advised that CalMac alone would require a minimum of £7 million additional funding just to employ the crew that it would need to meet demand.

The minister cannot pass the buck to CalMac, because CalMac’s action plan would include boats and crew, both of which are being withheld by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government blames the weather, but if the wrong boats are in the wrong place, they cannot sail in bad weather.

As Neil Bibby said, our communities deserve a public inquiry into how they have been failed so catastrophically over hulls 801 and 802, and we can add to that the exposure that Paul Sweeney highlighted. It is not good enough for the Scottish Government to blame everyone else when the blame sits squarely at its door. Today’s apology is welcome but, in giving it, the minister continued to deflect blame.

Graham Simpson highlighted the fact that the average age of the fleet, which the Scottish Government aimed to take down to 12 and a half years, has soared to more than 25 years. As Katy Clark pointed out, 25 years is the accepted operational life of a ferry. She said that operational issues are due to the ageing fleet and not to CalMac. Perhaps CMAL is tendering for two new ferry engines because the ones that they will replace are obsolete and replacement parts cannot be procured.

The Scottish Government has no strategy and no plan, and it has a set of ministers who have proven themselves at best naive, but most likely incompetent or worse. Willie Rennie pointed out that that incompetence is not reserved to ferry procurement but runs though the SNP Government like letters in a stick of rock. The Government has not saved Ferguson’s; it has damaged Ferguson’s. My heart goes out to the worker whom Stuart McMillan talked about. The Scottish Government has a duty to restore the reputation of the yard and safeguard those jobs, as Paul Sweeney highlighted.

In order to have an adequate fleet that meets the bare minimum of a community’s needs, we should be launching a new vessel every two years. Today, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy refused to guarantee that the two new ferries will come into operation, and she refused to take responsibility if they do not. We need a streamlined and effective strategy. Instead, planning and operation are split across multiple quangos and operators, such that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, and all that is overseen by an incompetent Government.

Our communities are beyond desperate and they deserve better. It is time for the First Minister to take control.