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Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd lease the vessels to CalMac Ferries Ltd who are responsible for the maintenance of the vessels.

The value of the contract CalMac Ferries Ltd has entered into with Cammell Laird is up to £25 million for overhaul and maintenance of 5 major vessels within the CalMac fleet covering a four year period.

The procurement exercise of the second contract is still underway.

The outcome of CalMac’s procurement exercise will determine where vessels will dry dock. The location of work carried out on each vessel will be available once this exercise has been completed.

The Scottish Government has not made an estimate of the number of apprenticeships that will be created in Scotland by CalMac Ferries Ltd.’s vessel maintenance and overhaul strategy between 2020 and 2024.

It is for the individual shipyards to determine their policy for the recruitment of apprentices and how they are deployed. It should be noted that the procurement phase for maintenance and overhaul has not yet been completed for all vessels.

We anticipate laying legislation to underpin the scheme in Parliament in early 2021 with the scheme coming into effect later in 2021.

Businesses are only eligible for the Closure and Hardship and the furlough elements of the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund if they pay Non-Domestic Rates. This is to ensure quick and effective distribution of financial support. We have also announced a Contingency Fund specifically to support businesses that are not eligible for the closure and hardship grants but that are experiencing disruption as a result of restrictions.

We have already allocated a portion of the Contingency Fund to nightclubs and soft play centres and are continuing to consider where the remainder of the Contingency Fund would be most effectively deployed in supporting businesses impact by restrictions.

The Scottish Government continues to review the best available evidence and consider the safest possible approaches to visiting in care homes.

It is important to balance the serious risks posed by the virus to care home residents with other considerations, including human rights, such as the right to a family life.

All residents should be able to enjoy contact with their loved ones where it is safe to do so given the beneficial impact which visits have, on mental and emotional wellbeing. That is why it is recommended that a designated visitor is identified for each resident and is supported to visit indoors where it is safe to do so . The updated guidance, which was published on 12 October, provides advice on ways to support and enhance those visits.

It remains the recommendation that essential visits are safely and generously supported by care homes. This should enable visits to always take place, where they can be done so safely, to benefit the health and wellbeing of residents or visitors, or bring comfort in other challenging circumstances such as when there is distress or approaching the end of life.

Decisions around care home visiting are made by care homes themselves, drawing on advice and recommendations from local oversight arrangements and health protection teams.

Defining safe and reasonable visiting is based on dynamic assessment of a range of factors and national recommendations provide the framework for these local decisions to be taken as safely as possible.

Updated guidance to support dynamic risk assessments and local decision making on visiting is being developed and will be available shortly.

In addition officials and I have very regular discussion with both Scottish Care and CCPS to understand issues and concerns their members face and both organisations are members of CPAG.

National recommendations that indoor visiting resume have been in place since 8 th August, subject to strict safety criteria first being met and including review of care home risk assessments by local Directors of Public Health.

Weekly returns from Directors of Public Health provide updates to the Scottish Government on the level to which visiting is being supported in each health board area.

The Clinical Professional Advisory Group for care homes continues to meet weekly and discuss progress with implementing visiting.

In relation to local care homes oversight, Local NHS and local authority clinical and care professionals have a lead role in care homes oversight, including advising on visiting risk management.

The Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) in place with Abellio ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper specifically prevent the paying of dividends or interest to parent companies.

The efficiency of operations performance metrics are assessed by reviewing the following:

1. evidence of any ways in which the Franchisee has sought to identify and implement ways to run the Franchise more efficiently and avoid nugatory costs, acting as a Good and Efficient Operator, including details and supporting evidence of the Franchisee’s actions;

2. evidence of appropriate revenue protection being applied in the interests of the taxpayer and/or otherwise evidence that the Franchisee has followed government guidance prevailing at the time regarding revenue collection; and

3. evidence of plans in place to return the operations and business to pre-COVID-19 levels of operation, including encouraging the public to travel on public transport where appropriate.