Part of Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:00 pm on 31 October 2024.
I beg to differ with Mark Ruskell’s assessment of the situation. I am struggling to understand how he can say that there was no agreement on franchising yesterday. In every discussion that I have had and in every debate, everybody talks about how they want franchising to happen. The regulations were set in 2019 primary legislation, but I get the fact that there have been some issues in relation to them over the past week. However, I have contacted my officials to say that I will continue to have conversations with Valerie Davidson and Stephen Dornan from SPT to provide an assurance to the people who are demanding that franchising takes place that the process will stay on course.