Chamber and committees

I have asked a question in this chamber and I expect to get an answer. The minister has not attempted to answer the question, which was about by how long the ferries will be delayed. That is not acceptable.

We are at crisis point. Just yesterday, only 13 of CalMac’s 29 routes were operating normally. Islanders are at their wits’ end. There is no slack in the system, so when a ferry breaks down, the knock-on effects are horrendous. We need a steady pipeline of new ferry orders. The £580 million over five years that was announced by the Government is nowhere near enough. Graeme Dey asked for £1.5 billion over 10 years. That kind of commitment would give Scottish yards, including Ferguson’s, the confidence to invest. If Graeme Dey knew what needed to be done, why does the minister not know?

Lastly, Jenny Gilruth promised to publish the long-awaited project Neptune—

I hope that the minister is right about that. Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd had no choice but to award the contract for the ferries elsewhere. The Turkish yard churns out one vessel every few months, so we can be pretty certain that we will see new ferries on time.

Last month, we learned that nearly 1,000 cables would have to be ripped out of the MV Glen Sannox—which was launched by the First Minister in 2017—because the cables are too short. They are too short because the control panels that they were meant to connect to were fitted further away than was originally planned, so they do not reach. Who is responsible for that, what is the extra cost involved, and by how long will both ferries be delayed as a result?

I know that Christine Grahame feels really strongly about face coverings. Are there any circumstances in which she would get rid of the legal requirement to wear them and rely on guidance?

There was a question. My other question is this. What has happened to the project Neptune report that Jenny Gilruth promised to publish last month? We are still waiting for it.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Ferguson Marine is competitive, in light of the reported decision to award the contract to build two new CalMac ferries to the Turkish ship builder, Cemre Marin Endustri. (S6T-00577)

Last week’s so-called national strategy for economic transformation said of the country’s transport network that there remain opportunities to improve connections within and between certain areas, and it said that the trunk road network is a crucial facilitator for the national and local delivery of goods. Given that, is the minister now prepared to break free of the shackles of the extremist Greens and commit to properly funding improvements on the A77, A75, A83, A9 and A96?

I hear what you are saying, Presiding Officer.

It has been an odd debate in some ways. There is no motion and no committee report on which to base the debate—even its title changed at one point—but we know that it is about climate change. We have had some really good contributions from across the chamber, and I will try to cover as many as possible.

I will start with Brian Whittle, who mentioned the need to upskill the workforce and said, quite rightly, that we do not have enough engineers to install some of the new technologies. He also spoke about something that he is really passionate about: food and food waste, and his belief that local is best. He is absolutely right about that.

Speaking of waste, Siobhian Brown mentioned fly-tipping and recycling, which are really good topics to mention. I say to her that she might want to get behind calls to have a moratorium on incinerators, which is something that I know Monica Lennon is passionate about.

COP26 should be remembered for what was actually achieved. There were some major steps forward on the basket of key climate issues. More than 100 countries signed a pledge to halt and reverse deforestation and at least 40 countries agreed to stop using coal, while leaders signed a pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

That all sounds good, and, as Colin Smyth said, that is all very well, but we need to see delivery and substance over spin, and I agree with him. Although the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C is alive, it is only just alive and it will depend not just on us but on what countries around the world do.

Some members mentioned the transport sector, which is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. I think that the SNP-Green Government’s approach to the sector is disappointing, because it is more stick than carrot. The Government seems to have declared war on drivers and does not seem to want to deliver what is actually needed, which is better public transport. I see the minister, Lorna Slater, shaking her head. If she disagrees with that, perhaps she could bring forward the provisions in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which Colin Smyth mentioned and which would allow councils to run municipal bus services in their own patch. I think that that would deliver a step change in public transport and get people out of cars, which I assume that Lorna Slater wants. However, for some reason, the Government is dithering on that point.

In his excellent, wide-ranging speech, Liam Kerr spoke about the oil and gas sector. He said that, if we want to end our reliance on oil and gas, we need to say how and when we will achieve that. So far, the SNP and its partners in the Government have not answered that point.

Tess White made exactly the same point; she spoke of the folly of turning our backs on the North Sea. Given her background, we would expect her to say that. Mr Kerr, rightly, also mentioned some of the contradictions in Government policy.

In another excellent contribution as the committee convener, Finlay Carson spoke about agriculture and aquaculture. We probably do not speak about those matters often enough in the chamber.

I will rattle through some of the other contributions. Monica Lennon wants us all to work together, which would be great. She spoke about the need to resource local government properly. Like me, she knows, as a former councillor, that it is not properly resourced. We need more resources for local government.

Paul McLennan spoke about work in his area and rightly so, because it sounds like some good stuff is happening there.

Unfortunately, my good friend Mark Ruskell is in denial with regard to the oil and gas sector.

Stephanie Callaghan, who was speaking remotely, spoke about the fashion industry and the need to reuse materials. She is quite right. I have been buying second-hand clothes all my life, but we now have apps such as Depop, which a lot of young people are using, and I recommend it to members.

All in all, it has been a good debate, but we need to do a lot of work to deliver on the actions that were agreed at COP26.

I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement and welcome the announcement of a steering group. I hope that the minister will keep us informed about the group’s work.

The report into the Carmont rail tragedy makes for sobering reading. We should remember that, although this is about failures of systems and lessons that can be learned, it is fundamentally about the loss of three lives: the conductor, Donald Dinnie; the train driver, Brett McCullough; and a passenger, Christopher Stuchbury. There were six other people on the train on 12 August 2020 and they were injured when the train hit debris—mainly gravel—and derailed.

The source of the debris was a drain that had been put in by Carillion, but not in accordance with the design. Had Carillion stuck to the original design, the tragedy may not have happened. Can the minister confirm whether Network Rail Scotland has checked all other Carillion-constructed drainage systems to ensure that there are no potential issues elsewhere on the network?

The RAIB said that, despite knowing about the threat, Network Rail had not sufficiently recognised that its existing measures did not fully address the risk from extreme rainfall events, which meant that areas of significant weakness had not been dealt with. What has the minister done about that?

Finally, the driver did not have a seat belt. That is extraordinary. It seems to me that seat belts should be standard. Does the minister agree?

To ask the Scottish Government how the country’s transport system can help to improve economic growth. (S6O-00853)

I had a heartbreaking case in East Kilbride. The family contacted me and described visiting their mother in a care home just up the road as being like a prison visit. Does Dr Gulhane agree that we need to move on from a situation like that?