Current status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will allow unbundling of Clyde and Hebrides ferry services to permit social enterprise or community-owned companies to bid to operate single routes where it can be shown that there is local interest in allowing this.
Scottish Ministers confirmed in September 2012 they had looked closely at the options available to drive up ferry service standards across the Clyde and Hebrides routes. There was no compelling case to unbundle the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. Where enterprises consider that they can provide a local service meeting the quality requirements of the contract they can form part of a consortium in response to the contract notice or seek to enter a subcontract with an operator who has been selected to tender.