Chamber and committees

What is Citizens Advice Scotland’s view on this? Has it been consulted?

Last night, BBC Scotland broadcast its latest “Disclosure Scotland” programme, entitled “The Great Ferries Scandal”. We learned some very worrying things about the way in which ferries 801 and 802 were bought. Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd broke its own tender rules, which say that there has to be a refund guarantee from bidders. There was not. Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd received a 424 page report to help its bid; a key section of its bid appears to have been cut and pasted from that. Ferguson’s was allowed to change its design and change its price after the deadline, and it received a confidential in-person meeting. Nobody else got that treatment—and all the while, CalMac Ferries Ltd thought a rival bid was better.

In short, it appears that Ferguson’s became an inside-track shoo-in for the job, unbeknown to any other bidder. Ferguson’s received special treatment from the Government, which was desperate to award the contract to the yard—and we know how that ended up.

Yesterday, John Swinney told us that the vital documents cannot be found, and he said that it will be left to the Auditor General for Scotland to look into the matter. The Auditor General does a great job, but the Scottish Government should not be hiding behind him on this matter. In any case, it routinely ignores anything that he says. The Scottish Government needs to come clean, and it cannot use those revelations to stall and deflect. The buck stops with ministers—and there are several of them. If CMAL did favours for Ferguson’s, it was because it was told to do so. This goes all the way to the top.

We could call what we saw on the BBC programme last night insider dealing, and it could leave the door open to costly legal action and add to the already astronomical cost of two ferries. Make no mistake—the Scottish National Party’s handling of the matter is a scandal.

However, while the First Minister was on her tour of the Edinburgh fringe festival this summer, we learned that she does not see it that way. Here is how it went with the respected broadcaster Iain Dale.

“Iain Dale: You’ve been in power, the party’s been in power, since 2007, that’s ample time for that to have been sorted out. I mean there’s clearly a scandal over how the procurement was managed. Do you take responsibility for that?

Nicola Sturgeon: I take responsibility for everything that happens in government, whether I like it or not. The buck stops with me on everything. I don’t shy away from that. I take issue with your language there but there’s no point getting into that.

Iain Dale: What’s your issue?

Nicola Sturgeon: Well—‘scandal’. I don’t think it’s a scandal. I think there has been a situation with these two ferries that I don’t think is acceptable and we’re learning lessons from that and focusing on putting that right.”

The First Minister does not think it is a scandal; it is “a situation”. Maybe the “Disclosure Scotland” programme should have been called “The Great Ferries Situation”. It is a scandalous situation, and that means that we need a public inquiry and a police investigation to get to the bottom of it.

If people in the Government knew how to behave properly, heads would roll. Derek Mackay has gone, but so far, nobody has taken the rap. They never do. Remember, though, what the First Minister said:

“the buck stops with me”.

Let us see if that is true.

Derek Mackay says that awarding preferred bidder status was nothing to do with him because he was on holiday. He says that his then boss Keith Brown was responsible. We know that CMAL eventually wanted to retender because of concerns about the lack of a builders refund guarantee from Ferguson’s. We also know that it did not want the preferred bidder status of Ferguson’s to be announced in public. But why get in the way of a good photo op? Announced it was, by who else but the First Minister, on 31 August 2015. Mr Mackay awarded the final contract and accepts his share of the blame. He announced it in another photo op at the SNP conference on 16 October 2015.

Of course, none of that was political. Perish the thought. John Swinney’s mitts are all over this, too. He signed off on the payment, despite knowing that there were concerns.

Meanwhile, the Glen Sannox—the fake-windows ferry that was launched in another photo op by Nicola Sturgeon in 2017—is still not complete, and the 802 is even further behind. Furthermore, a letter today from David Tydeman suggests that there might be even more delays.

So many photos—so little to show for them.

If members want to hear about some more buck passing, they should just listen to what ministers are saying about Ardrossan harbour. That is where the Arran ferry goes to, but the new Arran ferry—when it is eventually finished—will not fit, so work will have to be done to the harbour if the ferry is to dock there. The harbour’s private owners are now getting the blame for the fact that there is no agreement yet on who will pay for that. It is extraordinary; it is always someone else’s fault.

Derek Mackay has, at least, answered some questions, but he is no longer here. John Swinney, Keith Brown and Nicola Sturgeon—who says that the buck stops with her—are here, and it is they who should now walk the plank.

We must also think ahead and decide how we can best run the ferries. I first asked for sight of the project Neptune report in February, but Transport Scotland officials refused to release it until earlier this month. I welcomed its release, but I do not know why they dithered, because it does not tell us anything that we did not know already. We know that the clunky set up involving Transport Scotland, CMAL, CalMac and the minister does not work. It should be streamlined.

There is a mix of ferry services in Scotland: private, council-run, private hired by the Government, and just Government run. It is that last one that has the most problems. So, why rule anything out when we look at how we might run things in the future? Are we really saying that we want the west coast service to remain as one big monopoly, which would rule out council involvement and that of smaller local firms? We cannot let dogma get in the way of public services.

I speak to islanders regularly and hear the same stories every time. It was the same this week when I chatted to islanders from Arran and Mull. I heard about missed appointments, people not able to get to work, kids not getting to school and people moving away because the situation is too stressful. They fear that another winter of chaos, following a summer of chaos, looms. There is chaos upon chaos upon chaos, there is shambles and scandal, and now there is evidence that should merit a police investigation: we might go from the murky depths of the Clyde to a court of law. The situation is beyond shameful and it is islanders who are suffering. That must end—soon. And remember: the buck stops with the First Minister.

I move,

That the Parliament welcomes the long-awaited publication of the Project Neptune report on Scotland’s ferries; believes that the report sets out viable alternatives to the current structure, which is not delivering for islanders; calls on the Scottish Government to set out an urgent plan for fleet procurement, manufacturing and operations; notes that the CalMac fleet has become increasingly beset by technical issues and cancellations and that these technical issues are leading to increasingly higher repair costs; further notes that island communities, who have faced significant disruption already, are concerned that a lack of resilience in the fleet could cause further disruption this winter; expresses disappointment that, under latest estimates, vessels 801 and 802 will not be completed until May and December 2023, despite originally being due for completion in May and July 2018, and calls for a public inquiry into the matter.

Will the member take an intervention?

Will the member take an intervention?

Is it Labour’s position that the ferries should be entirely Government run, as they are now?

It is no use for the Deputy First Minister to hide behind the Auditor General. The claims were put to him last week. I cannot believe that he has been sitting there doing nothing and not finding out what has gone on.

If the Government accepts that what is claimed is wrong, which it appears to do, but does not know how it has happened or who is responsible, it must now call in the police to investigate. If Ferguson’s received special treatment, for whatever reason, that is beyond a scandal and is, in my view, a crime. The alleged rigging of the contract and the potential fraud has cost the country £250 million, and the figure is rising. Will the Government call in the police so that we can finally find out the truth of what has happened?

Kenneth Gibson makes a good point. This is not one size fits all. I am merely saying that there are already schemes out there. There are a lot of people who want to clean up their area, and they are doing it with council support. In my patch, North Lanarkshire Council helps a number of local groups. Time does not allow me to name them, but good work is going on. If there is a council out there that wants to set up such a scheme, and if it works, good.

I can go litter picking to an area or a road that has been done—I know that because I have been out there a couple of weeks earlier—and it is just full of rubbish. I find that frustrating. I think, “Why do people do this? Why do people mess up the areas that they live in?” That is the problem; the problem is not the community-minded people who clear it up. We have to tackle the problem at source.

I say well done to Kenneth Gibson for bringing the debate, and I look forward to hearing from other members.

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the claim in a BBC report today that the process for awarding the contract for ferries 801 and 802 may have been rigged.

We found out today that the disastrous ferries contract appears to have been rigged in Ferguson’s favour. The new documents appear to show that Ferguson’s received a 424-page report to help its bid; no one else did. Ferguson’s was allowed to change its design at the halfway mark; no one else was. Ferguson’s was able to change its price after the deadline; no one else could. Ferguson’s had a confidential, in-person, meeting; no one else got that.

In short, it appears that Ferguson’s received special treatment that no one else got from this Government and its agencies. That special treatment might have broken laws that could open the Government to legal action. That is a scandal. It looks like corporate corruption, and the fact that we are finding out about it only now means that there has also been a cover-up.

Will the Deputy First Minister tell us who chose to give Ferguson’s special treatment and why the documents that we now know about were kept hidden?

I congratulate Kenneth Gibson on securing the debate. I have to confess that I was surprised to see Mr Gibson’s name against a motion because he, like me, is not a great user of the parliamentary motions procedure, but this one is really worth it, I think. I was amused to be chosen by my whips’ office to take part in the debate. I think it says something about the whips. They must have just looked at the title “Adopt a Road”, seen the word “Road” and thought, “That’s one for our transport spokesman”. Of course, the motion is not about roads; it is about litter.

The motion—the very long motion, I have to say—concentrates on a scheme in America. After looking up some details about that particular scheme, I would issue a word of caution should we roll it out across Scotland. In an early part of the scheme’s roll-out, the KKK adopted part of a highway. Fortunately, that did not last, and I do not think that we will have that problem here.

I am not convinced that we have to replicate what exists in America because we already have a number of very good schemes that are run by volunteers in various parts of Scotland. I agree with what Siobhian Brown said about the beaches in Ayrshire. My family likes to visit Troon beach so I have been down there quite a lot, when I have often seen litter pickers wearing yellow jackets picking up litter. Such littering is a real shame, because it is a wonderful part of the world.

In my patch of the region that I represent, we have a number of local groups. I have been out a few times with East Kilbride community litter pickers. It was formed during the pandemic in March 2021 and its Facebook group now has 1,700 members. That is a lot of people and they are out every single week, several times a week, in various parts of the town. South Lanarkshire Council supplies them with rubbish bags and they then tell the council where the bags are and it comes and picks them up. It really works.

When I have been out with the group, I have come across all kinds of odd things. It is mainly drink-related—cans and bottles; something called Dragon Soop features quite a lot. Once I saw a sofa that had been dumped, but I could not get that in a litter bag. The group has found some really odd things, such as a 1970 crisp packet and an inflatable pink flamingo.