The First Minister will be aware of the havoc that storm Hector is causing around Scotland, with many lifeline ferry services, trains and flights cancelled or delayed, roads blocked and many people in our island and rural communities cut off. In my region, there are no ferries or trains operating out of Ardrossan. Given that this patch of adverse weather was forecast—in the words of the transport minister, it was “predicted”—and that it is not unusual weather for Scotland, what Government planning has gone into ensuring that our transport and road networks are resilient enough to cope with such difficult weather? What contingency plans are in place to assist those who are affected, with a view to getting Scotland moving again?

Our resilience arrangements always include steps to ensure that we are as well prepared as we can be for adverse weather. Most people in this country realise that, even when bad weather is predicted and all due contingency plans are in place, it is not possible to stop all the impacts of the bad weather. Public safety always has to come first, which is why, regrettably, decisions often have to be taken to cancel ferries or other transport services. We—and resilience officials and the transport Minister, in particular—will be working to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum and that services get back to normal as quickly as possible. In my experience, although nobody wants weather-related inconvenience, the vast Majority of the public understand the situation that arises in such circumstances and are very patient with the arrangements that have to be put in place, for which I thank them.