2. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding how the Scottish Government analyses the impact on island communities of disruption to ferry services. (S6O-02197)

I am working with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands and other ministerial colleagues to understand the impact of ferry disruptions on island communities. However, that requires not just ministerial engagement but dialogue with our local authority partners. That is why we took the decision to re-establish the islands transport forum, which is chaired by myself, through the islands strategic group. Furthermore, the First Minister’s policy prospectus, which was announced on 18 April, included a commitment to publish a new rural delivery plan within the lifetime of this Parliament. That will cover the issues that are critical to Scotland’s island, rural and coastal communities, including transport.

The minister will be well aware of the serious disruption that Scotland’s island communities have endured for far too long, with cancellations, reduced sailings and emergency timetables, often at very short notice, becoming an everyday occurrence for many. Residents often cannot leave their island or get home; island businesses cannot operate and get the supplies that they need or deliver the services that they have promised; and booking trips or stays on our islands is becoming a gamble that is not worth taking for some potential visitors. All of that is a result of 16 years of chaotic mismanagement of our ferries network by the Scottish National Party.

When will the Scottish Government finally accept responsibility for the increasing carnage that its lack of investment in new ferries is causing, and when will it look seriously at compensating islanders and island businesses for the total mess that Scottish ministers in Edinburgh have caused?

I recognise the impact that delays and disruption have regrettably had on our island communities. The Government and I are committed to investing in our ferry services, and we will deliver six new major vessels to serve Scotland’s ferry network by 2026—that is a priority for the Government. Although I am sympathetic to the calls to support businesses through compensation, our focus rightly has to be on building resilience in the ferry network. That includes the current chartering of the MV Alfred to support CalMac services and proactively working with NorthLink on potential additional capacity on services to Orkney. We will continue to do all that we can to increase the resilience of the fleet and to add to it so that our island communities are better served.

The Minister for Transport will be well aware of the disruption to ferry services across the Pentland Firth following the grounding of the MV Pentalina earlier this month. I thank the minister for his engagement with me on that issue. I know that Serco NorthLink has been working hard to identify how freight and passenger demand might be met while the Pentalina is unavailable, but I remain concerned about pinch points on particular sailings and a loss of connectivity to and from the smaller isles in Orkney. I therefore again ask the minister to look at increasing the number of return daily sailings between Stromness and Scrabster to four while that remains the only ferry route across the Pentland Firth.

I am grateful to Mr McArthur for his engagement with me on the issue. We will continue to look at the pressures on that crossing. As Mr McArthur is aware, because I wrote to him on the subject, thanks to NorthLink we have already increased the number of crossings on a Sunday. NorthLink is gathering intelligence and looking at other points of pressure with a view to adding to the services. I can assure Mr McArthur and Orkney islanders that we will continue to look at all the information that we have and act accordingly. Once again, I say that I am very grateful to Mr McArthur and to Orkney Islands Council, with which I will meet directly after this question time, for the intelligence that they have provided.