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Under the terms of the new Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract operated by CalMac, the company has made almost 350 commitments to improve the services. These commitments aim to help drive economic growth and improve customer service. This includes increasing passenger and vehicle traffic by 10% and increasing commercial vehicle traffic by 12% over the course of the contract.

The design of new lay-bys on the Trunk Road Network are required to adhere to the standards detailed within the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) which states that lay-bys must not be sited between a junction advance direction sign and the junction diverge. It should be noted however that, as standards within the DMRB are regularly reviewed and updated, existing lay-bys with historical layouts may not conform to the current requirements for new laybys.

The design of new lay-bys on the Trunk Road Network are required to adhere to the standards within the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) which states that lay-bys should not be sited on the outside of a right hand curve with a radius less than the appropriate values provided.

The reasons for Martin Dorchester, the Managing Director of CalMac Ferries Ltd rescinding his decision to resign are outlined in a news release issued by CalMac on 13 February 2017.

The Scottish Government played no role in influencing him to reach this decision.

In my Statement to Parliament I announced a policy review to identify and consider the legal, policy and financial implications relevant to the procurement of ferry services. I made clear that we could not pre-judge the outcome of that review. If the Teckal exemption applies, if the approach complies with state-aid rules and, crucially, if communities agree, then the Government is minded to make a direct award to an in-house provider in respect of ferry services.

Railway services operate in a different legal context – a specific, largely reserved legal framework, primarily governed by the Railways Act 1993. In 2016, the 1993 Act was amended to lift the prohibition on public sector bodies bidding for rail franchises in Scotland. The Scottish Government has initiated work with relevant stakeholders to consider the potential suitability of various parts of the public sector to bid for a rail franchise. Any such bid would be subject to relevant public procurement requirements and would be in competition with any private sector bids that came forward. The Scottish Ministers, as franchising authority, would evaluate all such bids fairly and properly, in accordance with those requirements. On railway infrastructure, I continue to press the UK Government to provide greater operational devolution of Network Rail functions to Scotland to ensure that our rail industry is better placed to deliver the best possible outcomes for passengers.

The Scottish Government does not purchase vessels for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd procures vessels for use by CalMac Ferries Ltd on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network. The requirements, and abilities, of the vessels are specified by the operator.

The Scottish Government provides loans to Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd for this purpose which are repaid over a 25 year period.

In Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd’s most recent procurement process they advertised the design and build contract for the 100 metre vessels in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) on 15 October 2014. The contract was awarded to Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd on 16 October 2015.

In this case a 2 stage restricted procurement process was used, the first stage restricting the number of tenderers to 6. The second stage required the tenderers to submit 22 separate documents covering technical, commercial and contractual matters relating to the vessels. These documents were used to assess the shipyard’s tenders using a predetermined scoring matrix that was made available to the shipyards and described in detail in a Tender Instructions document.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-06959 on 22 February 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at

The ferry services procurement policy review will consider in detail the legal, policy and financial implications relevant to the procurement of ferry services in the future. This will include consideration of whether it is possible to make a direct award to an in-house provider. However, as I made clear during the statement on 2 February, we cannot pre-judge the outcome of the review.

There will be no impact on work to improve access to (a) stations or (b) trains by applying the financial penalties held within the SQUIRE Investment Funds to the ScotRail fares initiative. £834,000 from the Investment Fund has already been allocated for station and rolling stock improvements. As there are not currently any initiatives or projects at the developmental stage to require funding, the balance of the fund, £2.06million, is currently unallocated.

The Franchise Agreement specifically states that such funds be directed towards "qualitative respects of the Franchise Services". Use of a proportion of these funds to the benefit of Scotrails valued, existing passenger base falls within the remit of the contract.

On 1 April 2016, mental health services in Tayside became fully devolved and delegated to each of its three Health and Social Care Partnerships for Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross, with the latter being responsible for the delivery of all acute and in-patient mental health services on a hosted basis.

NHS Tayside is working in partnership with its Health and Social Care Partnerships to complete the Tayside Mental Health Service Redesign Transformation Programme to ensure that sustainable mental health services, based upon patient safety and improving quality of care, is in place across Tayside. The plan is expected to be completed shortly and will be subject to full stakeholder consultation. This will include consideration of the future of the Mulberry Unit in the provision of longer term health services within Tayside.