Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am not going to pretend to the committee that it will not be challenging—things are extremely challenging just now with regard to where we are and the education budget more broadly. However, I think that, in the light of Brexit and the fact that Erasmus does not exist for us any more, our commitment to undertaking this work is really important, as it could provide our young people with the opportunities that they have thus far been deprived of.

I am currently working across Government to see how we might be able to provide financial support to that end. On 5 September, we committed through the PFG to launching the programme, and we will build on an initial test approach that we are developing and delivering this year. However, I should make it clear for the committee’s understanding that the programme will not be able to replicate the full benefits of Erasmus; it will be much smaller in scale. That said, we should be ambitious about the outcomes that it will deliver.

As for the member’s question about the budgetary challenges, I will continue to engage with Mr Dey to that end. It is really important that we deliver on this outcome, because I worry about the cohort of young people who have been deprived of such opportunities.

As I have said to the committee on a number of occasions now, the Government is currently operating in a very challenging financial climate. Part of the reason for that is the number of public sector pay deals that we have settled; we have done that in the right space, but it costs money. We have to balance our books; after all, we cannot borrow money as a Government might usually do.

The £46 million represents a relatively small fraction—just over 2 per cent—of the nearly £2 billion that we provide to the SFC. That funding was, as the member has alluded to, meant to support strategic change in the sectors; however, it was not part of the core funding for colleges and universities that the SFC had already announced in April 2023, and I am not aware of any projects having been adversely affected as a result, given that this was transition funding that was meant to support the work more broadly.

The member has asked a really important question, and it is not one that we can necessarily divorce from wider education reform issues. As the committee will be aware, I intimated in my statement in June that I would come back to the chamber in the autumn to provide an update to that end.

We are, as I suggested in my response to Ms Thomson, facing a really challenging economic backdrop. From my perspective, this is not about taking money out of the system but about ensuring that we get the best outcomes from the £3 billion that we invest annually. Currently, we are in the very early stages of looking at how we might approach the development of a new funding model. As I have suggested, I might be able to say more in my update on education reform that I will give to the chamber later this year, because the two things are connected. However, we will work very closely with stakeholders to understand any issues that might arise, and the opportunity to look more broadly at how we ensure that funding follows the learner should be welcome.

In essence, it is about making it easier for parents to access childcare digitally so that they can look at the availability for childcare on our digital system and find what is available in their area.

A booking system? I am not sure that that will be the unique selling point that I give it.

For the committee’s awareness, I highlight that the practicalities include our looking to build school kitchens. The Government is providing huge capital investment. When I was first appointed, I did not appreciate the fact that a number of our schools do not have the capital provision in their school estate to deliver free school meals, so we need to put that in place, which takes time.

Good morning, convener, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with committee members this morning. I welcome the committee’s inquiry very much and, to that end, I thank it for this morning’s opportunity.

I spend a great deal of my time as transport minister engaging with our island communities. Most recently, I was in Islay during recess speaking to local stakeholders about project Neptune. I am sure that we will hear more about that during the course of today’s committee meeting. That consultation is well under way and is being led by Angus Campbell.

To my mind, the committee’s inquiry is extremely timely. I am keen to hear from members today about their views on areas for improvement in relation to how we deliver ferry services in Scotland. I reflect that a substantial body of evidence already exists in relation to the topic. We have the REC Committee report from last session, the Audit Scotland report from March of last year, the pending Public Audit Committee report, and project Neptune, on which I provided an update to Parliament back in September. I very much welcome the committee’s inquiry, but I also know that we need to ensure that these recommendations are implemented at pace and that we have concrete solutions for improvements that are backed, of course, by our island communities.

The challenges that have been faced in relation to the CalMac fleet, particularly in recent times, will be well known to committee members. Island communities deserve better than the service that they have been experiencing in recent times. I am alive to that.

It is worth reflecting—as I think that the committee heard in some evidence from CMAL in the previous session—that weather is impacting on sailings in a way that it has never done in previous years. For example, in January and February of last year, just over 92 per cent of all cancellations were due to either weather or Covid-19. Indeed, last January and February weather accounted for 10 per cent of all cancellations

Those impacts are one of the reasons why I announced additional Scottish Government investment to give weather monitoring equipment to third-party ports. As the committee heard from CMAL, that should result in more reliable forecasting and less disruption.

I also announced last year that Transport Scotland is developing performance indicators that will be distinct from contractual targets, to better reflect the real experience of passengers. However, none of that detracts from the fact that we need to bring about greater resilience in the CalMac fleet, which is exactly why, in the past 12 months, I have accelerated investment into the fleet. In the past six months, CMAL made offers to purchase two second-hand major vessels—the MV Arrow and the MV Straitsman. Unfortunately, those offers were unsuccessful. Securing additional second-hand tonnage is difficult in a competitive market. It remains challenging, but commercial discussions remain on-going.

It is worth saying that, by the end of this session of Parliament in 2026, on top of the MV Loch Frisa, we expect to have delivered six new major vessels, and we expect the small vessel replacement programme to be well under way.

Secondly, as I mentioned, community engagement on project Neptune, led by Angus Campbell, is already under way. Finally, I was pleased to publish an advance draft of our long-term plan for vessels and ports at the end of last year, as a first, and significant, element of the islands connectivity plan.

I put on record my thanks to the committee for the significant effort that it has made in engaging constructively with our island communities. It has been really helpful to hear some of the feedback. I know that the committee has been to Arran, Orkney and islands in the Outer Hebrides—I, too have visited those areas recently.

Clearly, we now have to reform how ferry services are delivered in Scotland, but with the guiding principle that our island communities have to be part of what comes next. I look forward to the committee’s report and to responding to the outcomes of the inquiry. My officials and I will be happy to take questions.

I ask Laurence to come in if he would like to do so.

Yes, I do. I think that we need more islander representation on those boards, although boards are not the only way in which I expect CMAL and CalMac to listen to island communities.

You heard from Morag McNeill, who is the first woman to hold the role of chair at CMAL. At the end of last year, I was able to appoint Murdo MacLennan, as a non-executive member, to the CMAL board. He is already making a big impact on that board in relation to the work that he is undertaking with island communities. However, I agree that it is really important that we have islanders on those boards, so that they can reflect the lived experience of people who live on our islands and depend on those lifeline services.

There is a challenge there and, following it through, I suppose, if Transport Scotland had any pushback for me, it would be that we need to ensure that people who are on the board have the necessary skills and experience. Working with CMAL and CalMac, the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland need to ensure that there are opportunities for people to get those extra skills and experience if they need them. We need to focus on upskilling people, if there is a need for that, as well as recognise that islanders will bring a strength to those boards in relation to the delivery of services for island communities.

I will build on Chris Wilcock’s point. I have alluded to project Neptune in a couple of my responses already. Angus Campbell, who is leading on the work, is hugely important in that respect. Although he is a former islander, I think that he has a house in Stornoway. Angus Campbell is leading on that work and, as an islander, the information that he is able to glean from some of the consultation events is different to that that mainlanders might get, if that makes sense. Because he has a relationship with island communities, he is able to garner much better information—much more qualitative feedback—to inform an improvement to the service, which is really important.

It is not just about islanders on boards, although that is important and I absolutely agree with Ms Lennon’s point. It is also about ensuring that we build on islander representation throughout the process, whether that is CHFS, project Neptune or the ICP.