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Through the “Our Islands Our Future” work and following publication of the Empowering Scotland’s Island Communities prospectus in June 2014, Transport Scotland set up the Orkney & Shetland Internal Ferries Working Group in 2014. The Working Group consists of representatives from Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, HITRANS, ZETRANS and Highlands & Islands Enterprise.

Much work has been undertaken by the Working Group, including consideration of the various needs of the islands and communities served by inter-island ferry services, and the role ferry services play in delivering these needs.

The Working Group also commissioned independent transportation consultants to undertake ‘Inter-Island Transport Studies’ for both Orkney and Shetland. The purpose of the studies were to undertake a proportionate Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) based appraisal of revenue and capital options across the internal air and ferry network in both Orkney & Shetland.

Both studies were completed and published in late 2016. The reports and additional information on internal ferry services are available on the Councils’ websites.

The internal ferries in the Western Isles are operated by CalMac under the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract. Transport Scotland has recently commissioned a STAG study looking at ferry services to and within the Western Isles.

Delivery charges for freight are a commercial matter between businesses and their contracts with hauliers, and as such no specific analysis has been carried out in the ferries context. While the Scottish Government has worked on a voluntary code to help tackle excessive charging, the regulation of prices for parcels is reserved to Westminster.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12836 on 6 December 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12836 on 6 December 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council are wholly responsible for their internal ferry services.

The Scottish Government has set up a Ferries Accessibility Fund which is open to grant applications from any ferry or harbour operator providing a domestic ferry service covered by the Ferries Plan. This includes local authority and private sector ports and ferry services. The table below sets out details of successful Accessibility Fund Grant awards in relation to Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar internal ferry services.

There has been no other Scottish Government capital investment in relation to inter-Island ferries in these areas in the last 5 years.

The money provided by the Scottish Government to local authorities is allocated using a needs-based formula. However, there is no separately identifiable allocation of funding for individual services, such as ferry services.

The vast majority of the funding provided by the Scottish Government to local authorities is in the form of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it, including funding for ferry services, on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.

It is for the Councils themselves to determine how much they spend on ferry services within their areas.

High quality public services, such as the construction of the new £275 million Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, delivered on time and on budget, is a clear indication that The Scottish Government is driving an ambitious programme that provides excellent public services that support our more fragile communities.

As well as investment in 100% broadband provision to include our rural and remote communities and £3billion dualling the A9, £120m of Pupil Equity funding in 2017-18 has provided additional resources to the majority of schools in rural communities.

This despite our block grant for day-to-day spending on public services being cut, in real terms, by more than £500 million over the next two years by the UKG.

The rejection rates for 2015, 2016 and 2017 (to 31 August) are around 7%, 7%, and 10% respectively. The variation between rejection rates from year to year over this 3 year period is considered to be normal and not significant in statistical terms.

Each scheme is demand led. The Scottish Government uses historic activity as a guide to likely future activity, and sets the budget accordingly.

Similar to the answer provided for S5W-12495 on 21 November 2017, the Scottish Government uses historic actual costs and pending costs as a guide to likely future costs, and sets the budget accordingly.

Funding under these schemes is provided retrospectively and all approved work must be completed and claimed within one year of the date in which the application is approved. Therefore, work that is approved in one year can, in some cases, fall to be paid the next year. In any event, once claims have been submitted and processed for any particular year, the total amount claimed by all applicants is compared against the allocated budget for that year and this is used to estimate likely future spend.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.