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Prior to the Scottish Government taking control of the yard leading to Nationalisation, it was not possible to undertake a detailed analysis of the work required to complete the vessels. The detailed design and planning was the responsibility of the former owners of the yard.

It was only once the yard was in Scottish Government control that the full information was available and the full extent of issues with the design and approval of the ship become known. On 18 December 2019, the Turnaround Director submitted a report on the conditions of the two ferries, together with a revised programme and cost to complete the vessels. A copy of the report can be found on the Scottish Government website – Ferguson Marine: report on cost and programme for vessels 801 and 802 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Modelling work completed prior to omicron suggested it would be March 2023 before all screening centres in Scotland would reach the point of being able to offer breast screening rounds of 39 months. There are however a number of factors at play including the ongoing pandemic, the steps we are continuing to take to increase capacity in the screening programme, as well as options that are being considered to accelerate the recommencement of self-referrals for women over-70.

Figures for vouchers requested, vouchers issued and installations completed to date through the use of the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme are provided in the following table:

The Programme is actively supporting 25 blocks through key stages of assessment. As this is a representative-led process the time to completion of each Single Building Assessment cannot be accurately predicted.

As answered PQ S6W-06126, in recognition of the anxiety the pause is causing, I have asked for work to explore options that will accelerate the restart of self-referrals for women aged 71 and over. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic. As part of these considerations our goal is to restart the option to self-refer by the end of September 2022, with a number of factors still to be worked through. The restart will be done in a phased way without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population for whom there are clear screening benefits. Every effort continues to be made to increase capacity in the screening programme, including through deploying additional mobile units and offering weekend and evening appointments.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

The Turnaround Director wrote to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 9 February 2022, confirming that the cabling issue emerged in the week ending 24 December 2021. This remains the yards current understanding.

The CEO of Ferguson Marine is preparing an update, for the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, on the delivery timetable and budget for vessels 801 and 802 which will be submitted before the end of March 2022.

The Scottish Government are aware the warranty on the engines for vessels 801 & 802 has lapsed. Discussions with CMAL and Ferguson Marine are ongoing on how to accommodate this.

The Zero Waste Plan sets out the 70% of all waste recycled target in the main section of the document. The suggestion of a 70% household specific waste recycling target in Annex A, section 5.5, is incorrect.

Scotland’s target to recycle 70% of all waste by 2025 is a key commitment, underlined in our ‘ Making Things Last ’ Circular Economy Strategy and Climate Change Plan update .

These assessments will be undertaken as part of work on the Scottish Government's Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP). Community needs assessments establish the level of transport connectivity required by each island and remote mainland community within scope of ICP and will update assessments undertaken for the Ferries Plan 2013-2022. Market assessments consider whether the required level of transport connectivity can be provided without government intervention.

The exact timescales for these assessments is still to be determined. We aim to make significant progress with these assessments during 2022 and conclude any outstanding work during 2023. Priority is currently being given to assessments required to support the business cases for live vessel and port investment projects.

Transport Scotland has not yet invited tenders for work on any of these assessments. It is expected that the work will be undertaken utilising both internal staff resource and external consultancy.