Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government have not entered into, or signed, any agreement with Pentland Ferries.

The charter agreements of the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, vessel owner, for use on Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract (CHFS) have all been undertaken by the operator, CalMac Ferries Ltd. The Scottish Government has provided funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd to enable the charter of the MV Alfred and this was confirmed as £15.1m, in the Freedom of Information request published on 8 February 2024: Information relating to Scottish ferries costs and upgrades: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government does not intend to issue a statement on the safety on the MV Alfred, following the publication of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, into the grounding of the vessel at Swona Isalnd on 5 July 2022.

Any discussions around the charter, including a crew fatigue management plan are solely a matter between the owner of the vessel, Pentland Ferries, and the operator CalMac Ferries Limited.

The Scottish Government does not receive nor hold any information related to Car Parking charges at Ardrossan. This is the responsibility of Peel Ports Group (PPG) as the statutory harbour authority and owner of the port.

The number of sailings CalMac Ferries Ltd has provided with the charter vessel, MV Alfred, across the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024 is 1,086.

Based on registrations for November 2023 Computing Science week, the numbers provided in S6W-27321 are the accurate number of schools registered for each event during this week. It is difficult to be definitive on how many schools engaged as schools may also have participated by watching the recordings of sessions or by creating their own activities.

The Scottish Government does not receive direct payments from the operator of the current Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract. Any financial transactions of this nature would be accounted for on completion of reconciliation at the end of each Contract Year.

Education Scotland will hold another Computing Science Event in November 2024. This year there will be 2 weeks – week 1 (4 to 8) will be targeted at computational thinking / no code/low code creative computing activities focusing on ELC and Primary and week 2 (11 to 15) will be focussed on coding activities for primary and secondary. Education Scotland will also be hosting 3 Computing Science Conferences (West, Central and North locations tbc) on 16 November 2024.

Yes, the Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group's report will be published in due course.

Education Scotland will continue to work with local authorities and external partners to promote themed weeks. Dates will be promoted from August 2024, through our networks (Computing Science and Primary Computing Science networks on Glow, Local Authority National Technologies Network, professional networks such as ADICOS, Computing at Schools and CompEdnet), stakeholders and Education Scotland and Digilernscot social media.