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The Scottish Government have not entered into, or signed, any agreement with Pentland Ferries.

The charter agreements of the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, vessel owner, for use on Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract (CHFS) have all been undertaken by the operator, CalMac Ferries Ltd. The Scottish Government has provided funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd to enable the charter of the MV Alfred and this was confirmed as £15.1m, in the Freedom of Information request published on 8 February 2024: Information relating to Scottish ferries costs and upgrades: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) regarding maritime safety compliance in respect of the MV Alfred. The MCA are responsible for the inspection and surveying of ships to ensure that they are meeting UK and international safety rules.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards and for these to be applied in the case of all vessels and personnel accessing our ports and coastal areas.

The number of sailings CalMac Ferries Ltd has provided with the charter vessel, MV Alfred, across the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024 is 1,086.

Prior to the development of the technical specification for the overall wildfire project, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) set up a User Intelligence Group (UIG) comprising uniformed wildfire subject matter experts, with relevant union and health and safety representation. The UIG was guided by procurement and fleet technical experts. In line with European procurement law the technical specification was put to the European market further to final amendments made to it by the UIG.

The tender returns were evaluated by the UIG and awarded on the technical aspects of the end user specification and support packages. It should be noted that two representative bodies, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Fire and Rescue Services Association (FRSA) were part of the UIG for the wildfire vehicles. SFRS has been made aware of concerns raised by the FRSA regarding the all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and has engaged extensively with that group. The FBU, SFRS and wildfire experts do not share the views of the FRSA.

The ATVs are general purpose vehicles and SFRS currently has four in operation. The Service’s newest Angloco models were purchased as part of its wildfire strategy and will be introduced in conjunction with a fleet of other 4x4 vehicles, which arrived earlier this year. The 4x4 vehicles are for transportation of ATVs and once on scene will be used to convey personnel around an incident ground. Firefighter safety is paramount and all new vehicles and equipment will only be rolled out once staff are trained to operate them within safe parameters.

The Natural Capital Market Framework will seek to strengthen Scotland’s interim principles for ‘Responsible Investment in Natural Capital’. If passed by Scottish Parliament, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will also help to realise many of these Interim Principles, especially those relevant to land use, community engagement and community benefit.

For example, the Bill includes provisions that would place legal responsibilities on the owners of large landholdings to set out how they use their land and how that contributes to key public policy priorities, like addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature. The Bill will also ensure the owners of large landholdings will have to engage with local communities about how they use the land, and it will prohibit certain sales of over 1000 hectares, until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community.

As announced by the First Minister in May, the Pilot was extended for a further three months until 27 September 2024. This was based on the existing data available and allows for a longer evaluation period to gather additional data on the pilot’s effectiveness at encouraging modal shift from car to rail while helping passengers facing cost of living pressures.

Removing the timing restrictions on off-peak fares helps to simplify ticket options and supports flexible working practices which have grown in popularity. Such simplicity is also helpful in providing more flexible choices for families.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the rail trade unions who have long campaigned for this Pilot and their members are key to the successful implementation of it to date.

The Scottish Government is developing a Market Framework to set out a clear long-term policy ambition and coherent policy framework to support our vision for the development of Natural Capital markets in Scotland. It will be published later in the year, following the current extended engagement phase with a wide variety of stakeholders.

The Scottish Government does not intend to issue a statement on the safety on the MV Alfred, following the publication of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, into the grounding of the vessel at Swona Isalnd on 5 July 2022.