5. To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its cross-government co-ordination on island connectivity, what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any impact of the continued delay of vessels 801 and 802 on island communities. (S6O-02296)

I regret that the vessels are taking longer to deliver than estimated, and I am working with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands and other ministerial colleagues to understand the impact that it is having on island communities.

That also requires dialogue with our local authority partners, which is why we have re-established the islands transport forum through the islands strategic group. Furthermore, the First Minister’s policy prospectus includes a commitment to publish a new rural delivery plan that will cover the issues that are critical to Scotland’s island communities, including transport.

The Minister will be aware that the connectivity of Scotland’s island communities has been severely hampered by the continued delay to those vessels, which are more than £200 million over budget and five years behind schedule. That does not include the economic impact to those island communities.

What is the Government doing to ensure that Scotland’s shipbuilding industry, which should be a national asset to our island communities as well as to the whole country, is resilient and able to flourish in the future to supply a continuous shipbuilding programme for ferries? Right now, it seems that the Government is content to simply capitulate on a national shipbuilding strategy and award future contracts for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd to Turkey. He must surely recognise that that is not sustainable and that we must create a continued shipbuilding programme in Scotland.

The Scottish Government supports the growth of commercial shipbuilding in Scotland and has welcomed the United Kingdom Government’s intention to introduce a shipbuilding credit guarantee scheme as part of the national shipbuilding strategy refresh.

We look forward to the launch of that scheme, and, once the finer details of it are known, we will work with the industry to establish how best to use the scheme and maximise its potential to support the growth of commercial shipbuilding in Scotland.

Regarding the co-ordination and connectivity questions that the Minister mentions, and given the on-going pressures on the fleet, will he provide an update on progress with the delivery of the new vessels for the Little Minch and Islay services and on what benefits might be expected from their deployment?

Construction of the two new Islay vessels is well under way, and I am pleased to say that, on 25 May, steel cutting marked the official commencement of the construction of the first of the Little Minch vessels.

The vessels will bring benefits to island communities by improving the reliability, resilience and capacity of the ferry network. That includes the planned provision of a two-vessel summer service on the Little Minch route in place of the current single-vessel service.

This morning, I received a letter from the transport Minister rejecting the idea of a ferry compensation scheme for island communities that are affected by problems in the network—problems that were caused by the catastrophic handling of ferry services by his Government over the years.

In the light of that and the problems that the delays to the two vessels are causing to islanders, will the minister reconsider that position?

I have discussed that directly with a number of local businesses—I did so last week with Alasdair Allan in north and south Uist and Benbecula. Although I understand the calls to support businesses through disruption, our focus—rightly—must be on building resilience into the ferry network. That means that we are able to provide vessels such as MV Alfred, and we have invested £9 million in that regard to build on resilience.

I think that many folk understand that we really need to invest in our ferry network to get it right for people as we move forward. That is why we have vessels 801 and 802 and the four Islay class vessels being built at this moment.