Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes.

Paragraph 3 of the letter that Neil Gray sent you talks about the duties that you mentioned, which are set out in the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, particularly in section 15 of that act, and are further covered in the Scottish public finance manual. Given the high-profile issues with the ferries, why has it taken so long for scrutiny work to be carried out on the projected costs?

Good morning. Will you set out the sequence of events that led to your decision to request a written authority, following receipt of the due diligence work?

Mr Gray has accepted your judgment on the narrow value-for-money case for continuing to build vessel 802 at FMPG. I have not seen the report. Was your advice to continue to build vessel 802 or to go immediately to reprocure?

The value-for-money assessment concludes that it would be cheaper to procure a new vessel. Did you come up with a new, updated figure for the cost of the two ships? If so, are you able to share it with us?

Okay. I have a question for David Tydeman. Do you agree with the current cost projection—not that the committee knows what the current cost projection is, because it has not been shared—and the delivery date for vessel 802? Can you confirm the date on which you currently expect to deliver vessel 802?

Okay. Thanks.

We were pleased to see the written authority coming through. The Scottish Government has also confirmed that it is going to publish confirmation of any written authorisations on its website. Can you confirm whether the intention is that the Scottish Government will publish all instances of written authority provided to date in one place on its website, so that that information is transparent for anyone who wishes to access it?

Good morning. The report states:

“The most recent climate change governance map reflects arrangements at June 2021, despite significant changes to both corporate and climate change governance arrangements having taken place since then.”

It goes on:

“Frequent changes to complex, cross-cutting governance arrangements, and the lack of clear documentation, makes it difficult for teams across the Scottish Government to see where responsibilities lie and could hinder collaborative working on this cross-cutting priority area.”

Do you have any examples of where collaborative working has been hindered?

The report states that a workforce plan for the DG net zero area was expected in spring 2023. We are nearly halfway through May now. Is that likely to be produced on time?

Your report states:

“governance arrangements to help Scotland adapt to the impact of climate change are less developed than those for reducing emissions.”

Do you know why that situation has occurred?