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Will the vessels ever run on LNG? Initially, they will not, will they?

I want to get clarity on one point. Mr Tydeman, you spoke about the costs of the vessels being £200 million and £160 million. Does that include the pre-nationalisation costs and other costs, such as the loan to the yard that you mentioned? Are those figures the costs for everything that the Government has paid towards Ferguson’s and for the two vessels?

However, the cabinet secretary was given clear information that additional escapes on the upper deck area had to be installed. Surely if he was told two days earlier, we should have been told in the update on 30 June.

So, at the end of May, the Scottish Government would have known that there was an issue on the escape plan and the 1261. I am trying to work out why this committee was not aware of it until much later, and it seems that the cabinet secretary was not aware of it until much later as well. It would have been discussed at those meetings. This is maybe a question for us, convener—we have to try to work out why that was not fed back to the cabinet secretary if it was discussed at the meetings at the end of May that we have heard about.

No, of course, but it is useful for us to know that Scottish Government officials were aware in May. Thank you.

Yes, about the 1261 application that was rejected back in November 2022. When was CMAL notified of that? When was Transport Scotland notified that that 1261 application had been rejected?

We have heard in the past that weekly meetings take place between Ferguson and Scottish Government officials. Would it have been discussed at those meetings?

Would the 1261 process have been discussed during those weekly meetings?

David Harley, your core budget is similar to NatureScot’s, in that it is reducing in real terms.

I was not trying to single you out; I hear the same about Crown Estate Scotland and Marine Scotland. It takes a lot of time for those organisations to give a view on new developments.