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Under the Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) in place, (a) Abellio ScotRail and (b) Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited are not entitled to indemnification in the event of industrial action although the net difference between revenue and costs in any EMA period pass through to Scottish Ministers.

To the extent that industrial action increases the net cost to the Scottish Government it increases the need for further efficiencies and cost reductions given that funding, in the context of Covid, is severely constrained.

The resources referred to in the previous answer related to staffing resources within Transport Scotland.

Those officials who had been asked to respond to the challenges presented by the pandemic to our transport network and the impacts on Islands communities are now returning to normal duties, and has been made clear, a priority has been restarting the work taking forward identifying potential options for reducing fares on ferry services across the Pentland Firth.

In Scotland we are continuing to work under the interim Subsidy Control regime and provisions held within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Draft legislation was laid in the UK Parliament on 30 June 2021. We will now take time to consider the draft legislation and reflect any new options that may be available for procurement of ferry services and/or impact on ferry fares policy.

The Prior Information Notice (PIN) referred to confirmed Ministers’ intention for Scotrail services to be delivered through a wholly owned company of the Scottish Ministers in terms of the Operator of Last Resort following expiry of the current ScotRail Franchise Agreement.

It is intended that Operator of Last Resort arrangements will provide a period of stability for passengers and staff while we assess the scale and pace of recovery from Covid 19 and future rail reform.

As the PIN was published on 31 March 2021, almost 2 months ahead of the UK Government’s delayed White Paper on Rail, there was considerable uncertainty around reform at the time. Accordingly, through the PIN, Ministers reserved the right to put OLR arrangements in place as appropriate, up to the maximum period of 10 years. It also indicated the envisaged direct award at that point was for a period of 3-5 years with any optional additional period(s) exercisable at the sole discretion of Ministers.

Although the White Paper has now been published, we are pressing the UK Government for further clarity on how their proposals, and timescales for implementation of future rail reform, will impact our aspirations for Scotland’s railways. This will help inform future decisions about the duration of the OLR arrangements, subject to the 10 year maximum referred to in the PIN.

Provision of services by a Scottish Government owned company, called ScotRail Trains Ltd, in line with our Operator of Last Resort duty will ensure the continuity of rail services in Scotland and also provide stability to staff, suppliers and passengers over this period.

Abellio ScotRail staff with their terms and conditions will transfer to the new entity.

The organisational structure for ScotRail Trains Limited is currently being reviewed however the vast majority of Abellio ScotRail staff will transfer over.

The Scottish Government has not entered into any dialogue with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) regarding the existence or functioning of an on-board safety committee on the MV Pentalina. Any such discussion would be between the vessel’s owner, Pentland Ferries and the MCA.

Further to question S6W-00829, the Scottish Government has not taken any advice from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) or other regulatory authorities on the safety of the MV Pentalina to operate on routes on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network.

Further to question S6W-00824, the constrained passenger and vehicle carrying capacity with 1 metre mitigations in place for the vessels listed, are detailed in the following table.

ScotRail’s Cycle to Work scheme has been made available to employees up until end of June 2021, at which point the previous Abellio ScotRail contract with its supplier came to an end.

The Scottish Government has agreed that a replacement scheme should be put in place from April 2022 when ScotRail staff will transfer to the Scottish Government’s new company, ScotRail Trains Ltd.