Chamber and committees

The marine and landside upgrade works being undertaken at these ports go much further than simply accommodating the new vessels – the works replace ageing infrastructure that would have required significant capital investment even in the absence of the new hybrid vessels. The works also have been taken forward to bring greater resilience and reliability to the ferry links, as well as to make the travelling experience better for passengers.

Ferry Terminals at Brodick and Ardrossan

The cost for the Brodick Terminal project, which was completed in early 2018, was £30 million, with a £19.16 million contribution from the Scottish Government.

The Ardrossan Harbour re-development project is estimated to cost between £35 million to £40 million and will be funded by Transport Scotland, Peel Ports Group Ltd and North Ayrshire Council.

Ferry Terminals at Tarbert, Lochmaddy and Uig

The Skye Triangle project includes infrastructure improvement works to the piers and harbours at three locations - Tarbert, Lochmaddy and Uig. The total estimated project cost at all three ports is around £60 million. Contracts have been awarded for the works at Tarbert and Lochmaddy. The tender return for the Uig main civil engineering works is currently being considered by The Highland Council (THC). A preferred bidder will be advised in due course, with a contract award expected to follow during 2020.

LNG bunkering facilities at the ferry terminals at Uig and Ardrossan

On 30 March 2020, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited awarded a contract valued at £4.461m to Kosan Crisplant (KC) which is part of the MAKEEN Energy Group. The project comprises the design, manufacture, installation and through life support for two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shore to ship bunkering facilities at the ferry terminals at Uig and Ardrossan.

Since announcing that a Preferred Bidder for Glasgow Prestwick Airport had been selected, the aviation industry has been contending with challenges of an unprecedented scale caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Every aspect of the industry has been impacted and, understandably, this includes the sale of Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Whilst talks with the preferred bidder are continuing, it has been necessary to extend the timeframe for these discussions. I will update Parliament further in due course once I am in a position to do so, while respecting the need to maintain confidentiality for commercial reasons.

As I have previously informed the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, whilst efforts are focussed on returning the airport to the private sector, which has been our intention since we purchased the airport in 2013, should this not be achievable for any reason we will consider options for taking the airport forward in the future.

The following information has been supplied to us by Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited (FMPG):-

FMPG has awarded contracts to International Contract Engineering Ltd and to Alliance Project Control and details are available on the Public Contracts Scotland website:

https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

Other Regulated Contracts awarded by FMPG that are governed by Public Procurement Regulations (i.e. relevant procurements above £50k) can be found in the following table:

On 30 March 2020, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) awarded the contract valued at £4.461m to Kosan Crisplant (KC) which is part of the MAKEEN Energy Group.

The tender process and contract award was conducted as an open tender exercise following the issue of a Prior Information Notice (PIN) to the market in 2019. The tender and procurement process followed the Public Contracts Scotland guidelines and was executed via the associated Government website portal https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

We always said that we would continue to listen to business and keep the support under revision. From 5 May, a second phase of the grant scheme will allow business ratepayers with more than one property to apply for a grant for all of their eligible properties. This brings the total support for business available under the small business grants to £1.3 billion.

The following table sets out the net Non-Domestic Rates income that is estimated will be raised from the Higher Property Rate in 2020-21, broken down by property class. These estimates are representative of Non-Domestic Rates policy as at Budget time, and do not reflect more recent changes in Non-Domestic Rates policy.

The potential for falling ice from a cable-stayed bridge at this location was recognised and considered during design development.

In common with practice on similar structures elsewhere in the world at the time, it was decided that this issue would be best addressed by developing appropriate operational practices, such as weather forecasting and visual inspection.

In coming to this view Transport Scotland obtained expert advice from technical experts with worldwide experience in the design and operation of such bridges.

The estimated cost of installing weather and ice sensors on the Queensferry Crossing is approximately £430,000. The order for supply and installation of the sensors has been placed. As it can take up to six months for the sensors to be supplied, it is expected that they will be installed in time for the next Winter.

The Scottish Budget for 2020-21 demonstrates our commitment to reviewing the Large Business Supplement when this is affordable by almost halving the number of properties liable for the supplement (now the Higher Property Rate). Together with a below-inflation increase in the poundage, we have ensured that over 95 per cent of properties in Scotland will pay a lower poundage than they would in other parts of the UK in 2020-21. We will consider the level of the Higher Property Rate in the context of future budgets, subject to affordability as set out in the Barclay Review Implementation Plan.

The following table shows the poundage, Large Business Supplement, and Large Business Supplement threshold (rateable value) for each year from 1999-2000 to 2019-20, and the proposed property rates in the 2020-21 Scottish Budget: