- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 23 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00824 by Graeme Dey on 28 June 2021, what the (a) passenger and (b) vehicle capacity is of each vessel listed after the one-metre physical distancing requirement is taken into account.
Answer
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.
Vessel | Passenger Capacity (1m) | Vehicle Capacity ** | Deck Space (metres) |
MV Caledonian Isles | 276 | 92 PCU | 150 m |
MV Coruisk * | 150 # | 35 PCU | 70 m |
MV Isle of Arran * | 79 | 55 PCU | 103 m |
MV Isle of Mull | 218 | 66 PCU | 150 m |
MV Loch Seaforth | 304 | 130 PCU | 372 m |
MV Finlaggan | 206 | 79 PCU | 180 m |
MV Herbridean Isles | 118 | 60 PCU | 125 m |
* Summer timetable only
# This includes MCA dispensation allowing 100 passengers to remain in their vehicles on the car deck
** Maximum capacity for cars, this can vary dependant on operational requirements and if mezzanine deck is deployed (where applicable)
Physical distancing does not restrain the deck capacity, either in metre or PCU (passenger car unit). The limitations is on passenger capacity. Vehicle capacity will vary dependant on the combination of type of vehicles and number of occupants per individual vehicle.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 23 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) passenger and (b) vehicle carrying capacity is on the MV (a) Pentalina and (b) Alfred after the requirement for one-metre physical distancing is taken into account.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not aware of the capacity of vessels owned by Pentland Ferries, the MV Pentalina or MV Alfred as a result of physical distancing requirements and mitigations.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 23 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00829 by Graeme Dey on 28 June 2021, whether it has discussed with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency the (a) existence and (b) functioning of the onboard safety committee on the MV Pentalina.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 23 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00829 by Graeme Dey on 28 June 2021, what recent advice it has received from the (a) Maritime and Coastguard Agency and (b) other regulatory authorities on the safety of the MV Pentalina to operate on routes in the current contract for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 23 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons the Cycle to Work scheme has not been made available to ScotRail employees for 2021-22.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what advice it took from members of the Ferry Industry Advisory Group on (a) chartering additional ferry capacity, and (b) time chartering the MV Pentalina from Pentland Ferries on the Clyde and Hebrides routes operation, which is under contract with CalMac Ferries.
Answer
No specific advice has been sought from, or provided by, the Ferry Industry Advisory Group regarding (a) chartering additional ferry capacity, and (b) time chartering the MV Pentalina from Pentland Ferries on the Clyde and Hebrides routes operation.
Transport Scotland officials have continued to engage closely with CalMac and CMAL as key stakeholders on issues including additional tonnage.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on making the Road Equivalent Tariff subsidy available to Pentland Ferries’ private routes, across the Pentland Firth.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing fares on Northern Isles ferry routes.
Following engagement with European Commission officials in 2019, Transport Scotland officials were developing proposals to introduce Road Equivalent Tariff. This work was rightly paused in early 2020, while resources were pivoted to deal with the Covid outbreak, however work has recently resumed.
Engagement between Transport Scotland officials and ferry operators has taken place and will continue as the work progresses.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many crew are included in the time charter for the MV Pentalina, and who they are employed by.
Answer
Pentland Ferries have withdrawn, on commercial grounds, from discussions on the offer of the Time Charter of the MV Pentalina with CalMac.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with CalMac, regarding the extension of collective bargaining agreements with (a) RMT and (b) Nautilus International, to cover all crew members on ferries chartered to increase capacity on the contract for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.
Answer
Collective bargaining agreements are a matter for CalMac, its employees and the recognised trades unions. In the case of any additional ferries secured by CalMac through a “time charter”, the crews of these vessels are not employed by CalMac and are not covered by collective bargaining agreements which are currently in place with RMT and Nautilus. Any agreement with the Unions would be a matter for the vessel operator in that instance.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its former senior (a) civil servants and (b) agency staff have sought its approval in each of the last five years to take up a position with another employer, and how many times this approval was granted.
Answer
The number of Senior Civil Servants working in core Scottish Government and its Agencies who have requested approval under the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) rules in the last 5 years is provided in the following table:
Year | Number of Senior Civil Servants who applied | Number of applications approved | Lobbying ban or other restrictions imposed |
2017-18 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
2018-19 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
2019-20 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
2020-21 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
2021 to date | 2* | 1 | 0 |
* Note: One application was subsequently withdrawn as the proposed appointment was not made