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Ben Macpherson MSP, as Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment, met with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTTNPA) via Microsoft Teams on 17 February 2021. This was a meeting with the Convener (James Stuart) and Chief Executive Officer (Gordon Watson) of the LLTTNPA. The agenda covered; LLTTNPA’s background to strategic priorities, green recovery and the park authority’s future plans.

The Scottish Government has already spent around £1bn to support Scottish rail services – including an increase of more than £400m over normal rail support payments for ScotRail. As well as maintaining essential railway services this funding has secured full railway staff employment throughout the pandemic period.

Abellio ScotRail is authorised to negotiate increases in pay from within the available railway Emergency Measures Agreement funding where the cost of these increases can be fully covered by mutually agreed efficiencies negotiated through the existing collective bargaining arrangements.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): early learning and childcare (ELC) services was updated on 21 May to include a new section with guidance on . This guidance is aimed at ELC settings and local authorities. has also been issued to schools.The guidance states that where this minimises the number of adults visiting schools, children should be accompanied to transition visits by ELC staff rather than by parents. The guidance explains that this should also ensure that the visit is undertaken by someone who is familiar with and used to applying the COVID risk mitigations in education settings.

Schools will be able to explain what alternative provisions they have in place to engage with parents remotely to support their child’s transition to school.

The guidance also explains that schools should be able to proceed with enhanced in person transition visits to support children who need it most. This allows children with additional support needs to become familiar with the primary school before they attend in August, in line with responsibilities under the Additional Support for Learning Act. This may involve the attendance of parents but this will be decided on a case by case basis through dialogue between the ELC setting and the school and should be supported by a bespoke risk assessment.

The breakdown on the MV Loch Seaforth caused unacceptable disruption for our island communities. It is imperative the causes of that breakdown are understood and lessons properly learned so that we avoid this situation arising again in future. The cause of the breakdown remains subject to ongoing investigation. It would be inappropriate to comment further until that investigation is complete .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00322 on 16 June 2021 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In relation to short term issues, we are actively exploring opportunities for chartering additional tonnage, including consideration of the suitability of the MV Pentalina and looking at other credible, affordable and viable options to improve resilience.

The timetable impact of the breakdown of the MV Loch Seaforth is summarised below:

The MV Loch Seaforth was removed from service on 14 April and other vessels were redeployed to ensure continuity of service across the network.

CalMac were unable to charter any suitable vessels at short notice, meaning re-deployment of a vessel from within the current fleet was required. The MV Isle of Lewis was redeployed from Castlebay-Oban to cover daytime Stornoway-Ullapool sailings, and the MV Isle of Arran redeployed from Ardrossan-Brodick to cover the overnight freight service. The MV Lord of the Isles provided a combined Castlebay-Oban-Lochboisdale-Mallaig service. The MV Isle of Arran subsequently incurred a technical issue and was swapped with the MV Hebridean Isles on the Kennacraig-Islay service, maintaining Islay’s two vessel service and a dedicated freight service for Ullapool-Stornoway, with the Ardrossan-Brodick service reduced to a single vessel service and delayed the start of the summer only Ardossan-Campbeltown service which shares a vessel with Ardrossan-Brodick. Some additional capacity for Arran was provided by deploying a second vessel, MV Loch Linnhe, to the Lochranza-Claonaig service. These changes resulted in revised timetabling for the affected routes. CalMac operated additional sailings where possible, however this was restricted by crew hours and availability.

MV Loch Seaforth resumed full service on Stornoway-Ullapool on the evening of 31 May. All services were back to normal with their usual vessel deployment on 3 June.

We are aware of the significant impact on communities and businesses throughout this unacceptable period of service. This includes impacts on island producers, tourism and haulage businesses across the network. As I have stated to Parliament, we are looking at all options to provide greater resilience to minimise disruption during any future prolonged periods of disruption – as well as ensuring any lessons are learned that prevent further breakdowns where these could be avoided.

It is too early to say where future vessels to replace the current CalMac fleet will be built. These replacement programmes will follow national procurement rules; ensuring quality, value for money and the timely delivery of vessels to serve our island communities.

On 8 June 2021 I announced that the process to build a new ferry for Islay was formally under way. The Scottish Government look forward to continuing to work with key stakeholders to develop programmes for major vessels and small vessels – investing at least £580m in our ferry networks over the next five years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00322 on 16 June 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

A public consultation into the advertising and promotion of Nicotine Vapour Products (NVPs) will begin this Autumn. The consultation was postponed due to the pandemic and will cover views on potentially introducing Scotland wide restrictions on the advertising, promotion, brandsharing and sponsorship of these products.