Chamber and committees

All of the final papers prepared by consultants and officials in relation to the Scottish Ferries Review and Draft Ferries Plan have already been published on the Transport Scotland website under Scottish Ferries Review.

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/water/ferries/Scottish-Ferries-Review.

The MV Finlaggan and the MV Isle of Arran use different types of fuel. MV Finlaggan uses MF180 fuel at a current price of 40.74 pence per litre while MV Isle of Arran uses marine gas oil at a current price of 49.19 pence per litre.

It is a long standing ambition of the Scottish Government, as well as Inverclyde Council and Argyll and Bute Council to have a good ferry link between Gourock town centre and Dunoon town centre. The Scottish Government is currently taking forward, in partnership with key stakeholders, a study looking at the financial case for a future passenger and vehicle service, with the vehicle portion being non-subsidised as required by the European Commission in their Decision of October 2009. The study will seek to report the views of the local communities on the potential impact of the service on businesses, particularly the tourism and retail sectors, transport resilience and integration, personal mobility and traffic congestion.

The commuting dependency for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry services relates to both foot passengers and car users.

Across the various portfolios the Scottish Government is taking a number of positive steps to meet its carbon reduction targets. The increased fuel burn from the MV Finlaggan, compared with the previous vessel the MV Isle of Arran, marginally offsets the positive impacts of those other initiatives to reduce carbon emissions.

<>I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-07537 on 12 June 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The total cost for consultancy fees incurred in relation to the Scottish Ferries Review in 2008-09 was nil.

<>The Official Statistics publication Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2010 will be published on 17 July 2012, as announced in the list of forthcoming statistical publications on the Scottish Government's website. A link to the list of forthcoming statistical publications is available here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

The total cost for consultancy fees incurred in relation to the Scottish Ferries Review since 2009 was £440,600. The spend profile is set out in the following table.

Consultant	2009-10	2010-2011	Total
	£ 000	£ 000	£ 000
MVA	198.6	23.7	222.3
Tri (Napier University)	120.2	2.5	122.7
Colin Buchanan & Partners	50.6	0	50.6
HIE (Highlands & Islands Enterprise)	45	0	45
Total	414.4	26.2	Total – 440.6

The geographical location of Islay and Jura and the Scottish mainland would make it practicable, with the correct ports and harbours infrastructure in place, for the service to be a triangular service. We do not currently have infrastructure in place to allow for such a service. The possibility of a triangular service is therefore our rationale for offering free travel on the Jura to Islay leg of an onward journey to the Scottish mainland. Taking account of the geographical locations involved, a triangular service would, in contrast, not be practicable between the Scottish mainland and Iona and Mull. These services are therefore considered to be separate services.