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That was the point at which—if my memory serves me correctly—we commissioned the independent QC to look at the matter. At that point, we were all trying to see whether there was a way through.

CMAL’s concern at that point, in addition to its concern about the lack of progress on the vessels, was that the surety bond was due to expire, so things were obviously coming to a head for CMAL in that sense. The discussions from that led to the commissioning of the independent QC, and the view there was that there was no legal basis in the contract for CMAL to make those payments. The process, which ultimately concluded with nationalisation, continued after that.

I am trying to be honest—I do not, as I sit here right now, know the answer to that question.

By definition, preferred bidder status—versus final contract award—means that the final contract award decision has not been taken and negotiations are still on-going. I would have known that in general terms, but I have reviewed the briefing that I got for that event and it rightly says—which I would have assumed anyway—that there were still significant negotiations to be concluded before the final contract award. Although it is not flagged up in that briefing as a particular issue of concern, there is a very clear reference to the on-going negotiations, including issues and complexities around the level of guarantee that FMEL would provide. So, yes, before I made the announcement of the preferred bidder on 31 August, of course I knew that it was not a concluded negotiation, because it was still at the preferred bidder stage of the process.

The Cabinet takes decisions on policy, budgets and budget cover for certain things. Ministers are tasked to get on with the jobs within their portfolios. They report back to Cabinet and update it, and Cabinet colleagues can ask questions, but that does not always take the form of papers that ask Cabinet to substitute for the minister and to make decisions.

Indeed.

Mr Beattie, which paragraph is that? I have the Audit Scotland report here.

I think that that refers more to the second loan than to the first loan.

We were certainly aware that the relationship was becoming progressively more strained and difficult. Ministers—principally the portfolio ministers of the time—would have been involved periodically in discussions and updates.

That said, a lot of effort was made—on both sides, I think, and I know particularly by CMAL—to keep the relationship where it needed to be for us to see progress on the vessels. If you go through CMAL’s various updates to the programme steering group, for example, and the updates that came through the expert that the Scottish Government commissioned, you will see that they contain many references to there being improvements at times, things working better and there being more confidence. Overall, however, and broadly speaking, that relationship was in a downward spiral.

It is not hard to understand the frustration that CMAL felt at having signed a contract of that nature, with responsibility for design and build passing to the shipbuilder, as is standard practice, yet all those issues were being raised that had not been raised at the time. I understand its frustration. Similarly, Jim McColl and FMEL clearly had concerns, which they voiced.

Ministers were aware of that and—again, I think that this is all reflected in the documents that have been published—there was definitely a view on the part of the Government that we wanted to encourage mediation. There was a period in which mediation was agreed to by both parties, but it did not happen. The chosen mediator was not available in the timescales that were necessary.

The contract allowed for mediation, expert determination and then court proceedings as the dispute resolution steps. CMAL’s view, I think rightly, was that expert determination was not appropriate here. Apart from anything else, that was because of the scale of the claim that FMEL was making outside the contract, which ultimately became £66 million. The right way to resolve it was therefore for FMEL to go through the court process, which—as was its right—it never chose to do.

Ministers were seeking to keep the relationship where it needed to be, to improve it and, where we could, to use our best offices to resolve the issues between the parties. In the published documents, you will see evidence of the Government seeking to do that all along in relation to the contract issues between FMEL and CMAL.

Beyond that, as is evidenced in the loan agreements, the consideration of the proposal that Jim McColl put prior to public ownership and then at public ownership—at all stages—we were also seeking to discharge the wider responsibilities of trying to keep the yard open and operational and protecting employment, as well as getting the vessels finished.

I think that we are talking about a meeting on 4 June, which was part of the ordinary process of obtaining technical clarifications from bidders. As I understand it, CMAL took proper in-house procurement advice on that and there was nothing inappropriate in having such a meeting. That is CMAL’s response to that point.

However, it is right that that aspect should be subjected to proper scrutiny by the Auditor General. Although you are absolutely right to say that that is entirely for him, it is important that it is not just my word that is taken on that and that the matter is properly scrutinised, as should be the case for all aspects of the BBC documentary.

For a public announcement that would be a media event, a communications special adviser’s proposal would come to me. Again, I am telling you things that most people already know. As every Government does—and I am pretty sure that it is exactly the same process with Prime Ministerial announcements—we look ahead to things that are coming up over the next few weeks, and the communications teams, with special adviser input, will decide whether an announcement that is coming up might be one for the First Minister to make.

I do not recall whether that was the case with this particular announcement, but I often look ahead at suggestions of media announcements that I will make for the next two or three weeks, for example.