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Since January 2006, including the most recent intake from August/September 2015, CalMac Ferries Ltd has sponsored a total of 118 deck, engine and electro technical officer cadets, details of which are outlined in the following table:

For officer cadets, CalMac is in a tri-partite arrangement with Clyde Marine Training Limited and Northern Marine Management Limited. For the duration of their cadetship, officer cadets are employed by Clyde Marine Training Limited and sponsored by CalMac Ferries Ltd. The majority of the officer cadets’ sea phases are spent on deep sea voyages with Northern Marine Management Limited, in-filled with some time at sea with CalMac Ferries Ltd.

Of the 68 previous officer cadets, 17 failed to complete their training. Of the remaining 51 officer cadets, six have been given permanent employment with CalMac Ferries Ltd. In addition, one officer cadet who did not complete his cadetship has been given permanent employment by CalMac Ferries Ltd, as a rating rather than an officer. Of the remaining 44 officer cadets, CalMac does not hold records of their current employment status.

Since January 2006, CalMac Ferries Ltd has recruited a total of 26 deck and engine rating trainees, details of which are outlined in the following table:

Of the 26 trainees recruited, 13 have been given permanent employment, 10 are still completing their training and three have left the company. Of the three who moved on, two left after being given permanent employment elsewhere and one during the course of their training.

Serco NorthLink Ferries (SNF) has supported four officer cadets per year since July 2012. Consequently it has supported a total of 12 cadets over the last three years.

SNF has also offered training places to three further officer cadets who required additional sea time over and above their initial industry support.

The first three officer cadets taken on at the start of the contract in July 2012 have recently completed their three year training phase and are either awaiting certification or final examinations. Permanent employment offers only follow the satisfactory completion of this process.

SNF also continues to support ratings transferring from onboard service roles to deck and engine positions.

Details of the Northern Isles ferry services tender will be confirmed when the procurement process commences.

The Scottish Government has identified the preparation of a pollinator strategy for Scotland as an important part of the priority project ‘Conservation of priority species’ in Scotland’s Biodiversity – a Route Map to 2020 which was published in June 2015.

A draft pollinator strategy is being prepared by Scottish Natural Heritage and, as I stated in the answer to S4W-24775, I expect it to be ready for public consultation in 2015. As part of the consultation, I anticipate that discussions will be held with a range of interested parties, including the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Buglife.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27837 on 15 October 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

As noted in my statement to Parliament on 24 June 2015, it has been demonstrated that European law (Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92, applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within member states (maritime cabotage), and the relevant provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) requires the Scottish Government to tender ferry services when public subsidy is being provided.

The previous contract for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) was awarded in 2007, following a full tendering process carried out under the same requirements of European law. Subsequent to that, the European Commission carried out an in-depth investigation between 2008 and 2009 of Scottish ferry subsidies. Following that investigation, a decision was issued noting that state-aid payments for CHFS were allowable and proportionate. This positive outcome was based in part on the commission’s recognition that the contract had been awarded in compliance with the maritime cabotage regulation and associated guidance.

Keith Brown, the then Minister for Transport, wrote in 2012 to the European Commission, seeking a review of the requirement to tender ferry services in Scotland. Commissioner Almunia, the then competition commissioner, made clear in his response that the commission strongly advocates the widest possible use of open and transparent tendering procedures when public authorities entrust companies with a public service obligation. Keith Brown, as Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, also met with senior commission officials in Brussels on 2 July 2015 to explore further the potential to avoid tendering the CHFS contract. The commission reiterated its position that the maritime cabotage regulation, in line with the principles of the EU treaty, requires non-discrimination between operators and that the best way to ensure this is an open and transparent competitive tendering exercise.

We continue to seek clarification from the commission about individual issues that arise in relation to publicly subsidised ferry services in Scotland.

Road equivalent tariff (RET) fares have been rolled out as a series of pilots, beginning on routes to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree in October 2008. RET for passengers, cars, small commercial vehicles and coaches was further rolled out on routes to Islay, Colonsay and Gigha in October 2012 and then Arran in October 2014. The final roll-out of RET on all remaining Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services routes will take place on 26 October 2015.

Transport Scotland, under guidance of a working group of key stakeholders, is currently conducting a comprehensive review of ferry freight fares, with the aim of developing an overarching policy for freight fares across Scotland’s entire ferry network. This includes both the Northern Isles and Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.

Following the publication of the Research and Analysis of Options for Ferry Freight Fares report on 23 June 2015, further analysis is being conducted to consider the favoured options identified in the research report and the potential impacts on economic development and future sustainability of the islands.

The freight fares review is expected to progress towards completion once further analysis of the results of the research report has been completed by Transport Scotland. The intention is that a new freight fares structure will be implemented during future Scottish Government ferry contracts, although the exact timing has yet to be decided.

Details of the compensation by CalMac since January 2013 is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 57263). Some of the information requested is not held. The information that has been provided is set out on a monthly and annual basis from January 2013 until August 2015. This follows the introduction of EU Passenger Rights Regulations 1177/2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway. Claims amounting to £17,414 prior to this were paid by CalMac on a case by case basis.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27833 on 15 October 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.