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Okay.

Thank you.

It would be very helpful if you could update the committee on that—

Going back to your original reference to independence, if I have understood it correctly, I would just point out that the Scottish Government’s view is to try to stay aligned as much as possible with European Union regulations. You are therefore indicating that one eye should be on aligning and keeping pace with EU regulations. I was here when the companies were set up as they currently are, so I know that that was a concern—although it was disputed at the time. Are you suggesting that that is the bit that needs to be weighed up in some of this?

The witnesses will know that we heard from representatives from Norway. Although Norway is different from Scotland—it is more coastal and we have the islands experience—I was struck by their forward-thinking approach. Norway is operating with new technology; it is about to deploy a hydrogen vessel and has automatic berthing in some ports. I was also struck by its iterative procurement process that is close to market and incentivises innovation.

I understand and appreciate that CMAL has gone through challenging times in the past, and that to switch to a different approach and culture requires resources, support from Government and long-term strategic thinking about how innovative we want our sector to be. What are your reflections on what that would take? We can make recommendations in our report to the Government as to the type of ferry scenario that we want. It is about strategic thinking, a joined-up approach and trying to reduce the use of roads and cars rather than building vessels to take more cars—for example, why are we not thinking about end-to-end traffic? Is there something about the Norwegian model that attracts you and that you think Scotland could aspire to, and what would it take for us to achieve it?

Just very briefly, on that point, my constituency is in the West Lothian area. It has had poor take up, which might reflect the fact that it is a semi-rural area. You can get from east to west on a train, but trying to get from north to south, taking timing into account, is different. My young constituents say: “What is the point of having the bus pass when I can’t use it?”. That kind of forecasting will have to take place, so my appeal is that you do not look only at rural areas, because there are some very central semi-rural areas—I expect that Lanarkshire might be similar—that should be specifically examined.

Can I explore what you mean by independence? Independence from whom to deliver what?

I have a final question. The current tripartite arrangement was established to comply with European Union law. Now that the United Kingdom has left the EU, can you set out whether the Scottish Government is free to redesign the delivery framework, or are you looking to maintain alignment with EU competition laws? There is also the potential that the original decision was a judgment call, and perhaps you can revisit how much alignment with the EU you would need to maintain. Basically, how much freedom do you have to take decisions that you want to take, or do you have one eye on making sure that we are not subject to any future—

Just to develop your point about the strategic focus, I know that Transport Scotland is also in the mix, which has resulted in the triangle that, as people will know from the evidence that we have taken, can be seen as being overcomplicated. If CMAL and CalMac were to come together, would that put greater onus on Transport Scotland to have the expertise with regard to accountability? How does that relationship work? Would Transport Scotland’s remoteness potentially be a problem if there were to be a merger?

Finally, how is CMAL preparing for the end of the current Clyde and Hebrides ferry service contract in October 2024, which is only 18 months away?