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The hire agreement for the MV Arrow is between Serco NorthLink Ferries and Seatruck Ferries. Consequently, CMAL has made no assessment.

The short term charter of the MV Arrow has been instituted to specifically cater for current freight demands on the Northern Isles and as contingency cover following recent technical issues with the MV Helliar.

The Scottish Ministers are currently considering all available options to promote fair work practices, including collective bargaining and payment of the National Minimum Wage and, where possible, the Scottish Living Wage, through their contracts. However, as the member may be aware, The Scottish Parliament has no powers to legislate on matters of employment law - something that was called for by Scottish Ministers whithin the Smith Commisson process, but opposed by Labour Party and others.

The Scottish Government have not met with representatives of the livestock industries recently in respect of the ferry services. However, there is ongoing engagement with representatives of communities to discuss freight issues including services for the agricultural communities. Serco NorthLink Ferries, as the operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Service, meet with representatives of the livestock sector on a regular basis. Any requests in regard to the services they provide are passed on to Transport Scotland for due consideration.

The Scottish Government discusses ferry capacity demand with the aquaculture industry on a quarterly basis, most recently on 12 September 2018.

Scottish Ministers regularly meet with union representatives. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport , Infrastructure and Connectivity most recently met with members of the STUC on 5 September 2018 where matters relating to the Northern Isles Ferry Service were discussed.

Transport Scotland officials are in the process of arranging a meeting with trade unions to discuss the future specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Service.

The Scottish Government meets with Serco NorthLink Ferries on a monthly basis to discuss amongst other key areas, freight capacity, most recently on 11 September 2018.

The estimated subsidy costs for operation of the Northern Isles Ferry Service over the 18 month period between April 2018 and October 2019 is £74.7m. It should be stated that the annual grant for the contract extension period includes the subsidy to support the services, including fuel and port dues as well as all other necessary maintenance and operational costs for all vessels.

All of the 288 trains with toilets, that are currently leased by ScotRail, have been are fitted with controlled emission tanks (CET) since the start of 2018, as are all Caledonian Sleeper trains. Department for Transport cross border operators (LNER / Crosscountry) currently run High Speed Trains in Scotland that are not fitted with CET as are the 2 loco hauled trains which are hired in by ScotRail and operate on the Fife circle peak services.

All 26 fully refurbished High Speed Trains will have controlled emission tanks (CET) fitted. The first one will be introduced in October and when they are all operating on Scottish inter-city routes will provide 40% more seats than operate at present.

The class 156 diesel fleet were the only units without controlled emission tanks (CET) at the start of the Franchise and these have remained on the same routes since then. Scottish Government funding enabled CET to be fitted across the full fleet of 48 Class 156 Units, since the start of 2018.

I refer the Member to the public version of the Abellio ScotRail Franchise Agreement which contains the targets for cancellation and capacity. Link is: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/2302/abellio-scotrail-redacted-franchise-agreement-web-version-revised-november-2016.pdfj .

I am pleased that National Museums Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway Council have been able to agree the terms for a 25-year Partnership Agreement which outlines their long-term plans for the display of a significant and representative portion of the Hoard at Kirkcudbright Art Gallery, and future loans and touring exhibitions in Galloway.

The Scottish Government has worked with all partners involved to enable both parties to reach an agreement and to allow for the most important collections ever discovered in Scotland to be made available to the widest possible audience. VisitScotland will work with Dumfries and Galloway Council and National Museums Scotland to promote the Hoard and the wider region.

The New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme (NECGS) is part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2014-20, which assumed £22 million of support for Young Farmers and New Entrants across the programme life. Such has been the level of demand that this budget is now exhausted, though not before supporting over 250 new businesses and at least 600 business development projects. There are currently no plans to reopen schemes.

Looking beyond the current SRDP, the recent consultation - 'Stability and Simplicity' - marked the start of our process to develop a new rural support policy after the UK Government takes Scotland out of the European Union. The consultation made clear the importance that the Scottish Government places upon continuing to support new entrants and sought views and opinions as to how this might be achieved. While it is too early to anticipate exact future funding mechanisms, the Scottish Government will give due regard to the suggestions that have been made in the responses. The Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy will provide a report to Parliament in due course, once careful consideration has been given to the substantial response received.

If an application was received on, or prior to, the scheme closing date (31 August 2018) a small amount of additional time, 10 working days, is allowed to give the applicant the opportunity to submit the final pieces of supporting documentation. However, if the required details are not forthcoming within that time, the application will be rejected. No new applications will be accepted after 31 August 2018, regardless of circumstances.