Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers are committed to reforming our public sector to ensure the delivery of excellent public services in a fiscally sustainable manner. Delivering such services is core to the government’s mission. The role of Public Service Reform is to deliver that mission, building confidence that the government is on Scotland’s side and can be trusted to take the next step in our constitutional journey.

Any reform of ferry services will be taken forward as part of this and will involve engagement with stakeholders. Parliament will be updated on any decisions in the normal fashion.

The Community Needs Assessments (CNAs) for the Cowal and Rosneath were published on 11 September 2024. Further CNAs are currently in progress and are expected to be completed by the end of this year. These cover the following:

1.Coll, Colonsay, Iona, Kerrera, Lismore, Mull and Tiree

2.Outer Hebrides, Small Isles, Skye and Raasay

The intention is to commence work on the remaining CNAs in the Clyde and Hebrides during 2026 subject to agreed staff and budget resource.

The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of the impact of a ferry service between Rosyth and Dunkirk. The decision to introduce an international ferry service is a commercial consideration for the ferry operator and relevant port authorities.

The Scottish Government and its agencies continue to support the wider development of our ports and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe. We are happy to work with any ferry operator to explore opportunities to promote a new service.

Information regarding the annual subsidy level for the public contract for the Northern Isles Ferry Services is available on the Transport Scotland website under ‘Transport Scotland Section 70 return – 2013-2014’ and ‘Transport Scotland Section 70 Return – 2024-25’.

The individual subsidy levels from these documents for the Northern Isles Ferry Services have been reproduced in the following tables.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the deck space reservation pilot, with a working group of Transport Scotland, CalMac and community representatives due to meet in July 2026 to review progress and consider next steps.

The design and build fixed price contracts are covered by Builders Refund Guarantees.

NorthLink engages and will continue to engage on a regular basis, with both RMT and Nautilus International on all aspects of current and future operational activity including the new Freight Flex vessels. The Freight Flex Vessels include provision for 28 seafarer cabins and 2 double cadet training accommodation cabins and 1 spare seafarer double cabin per vessel, allowing for up to four trainee placements to be provided at any point in time.

CMAL as the procuring authority, will oversee the design and build processes and have a site team at the yard. It is for the shipyard to ensure that sufficient personnel are assigned to deliver the build in line with the agreed schedule. Guangzhou Shipyard International Co. Ltd has confirmed that there can be 20,000 persons working at the shipyard including sub-contractors across a number of projects at any one time.

The first milestone payment was made by CMAL on enactment of the contracts in April 2026. The next milestone payment, for cutting steel for Vessel 1, is expected in December 2026.

The Scottish Government meets with the Green Freeports and their respective accountable bodies on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of aspects of the programme, including fair work. In addition, the Green Freeports report on fair work as part of the bi-annual monitoring of the programme.