Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, September 29, 2022

Official Report 1188KB pdf

Points of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. During topical questions on 6 September, the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee, assured this Parliament that the budget and completion timescales for vessels 801 and 802 were on track. Last night, we were told that the vessels could cost another £84 million, bringing the total cost to £336 million against the budget of £97 million. Furthermore, we were told that vessel 802 will be subject—[Interruption.]

SNP members may be struggling to find this interesting, but the people of Scotland and the people of the islands that I represent find it very interesting, so I suggest that they listen to it.

Please continue, Mr Mountain.

Furthermore, we were told that vessel 802 will be subject to further delays. Having visited Ferguson’s shipyard on 2 September, I knew that that was the case, which is why I lodged my topical question three weeks ago.

Presiding Officer, either the minister does not know what is going on in his portfolio, which I am sure he will wish to deny, or the minister was hiding the fact and therefore misleading the Parliament. If the latter is the case, how can the Parliament hold him and the Government to account?

I thank the member for advance notice of the point of order. As members are aware, I am not responsible for the content of members’ contributions. If a member feels that another member has provided information that is incorrect in a contribution in the chamber, the corrections guidance sets out steps that the member may wish to take and, of course, there are the usual opportunities for scrutiny in the chamber. Thank you.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. During First Minister’s questions today, the First Minister said in relation to Scotland’s energy consumption:

“we have a position where our net energy consumption is already provided by renewable energy sources.”

The assertion is demonstrably and evidentially false. I am sure that the First Minister would be very pleased to be given an opportunity to correct the record such that a more accurate picture of the source of Scotland’s energy provision could be given. I wonder if you could guide the First Minister on how she might go about doing that.

In response to the member’s point of order, I repeat that, as I have just said to Mr Mountain, if a member feels that another member has provided incorrect information, a mechanism exists by which to correct that. Thank you.