Ferry Services

That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Government needs to take action to address a number of failings in its policy on ferries; calls on it to provide a detailed response to the report that it commissioned on the effect of the removal of road equivalent tariff from commercial vehicles, which found that this has had a detrimental impact on hauliers and island communities; further calls on ministers to outline what financial penalties have been levied on Serco following its failure to run the Stromness to Scrabster service because of a mechanical failure to MV Hamnavoe and what action is being taken to ensure that this service is not disrupted in the future; expresses concern that Caledonian MacBrayne’s proposals could see many port staff receive pay cuts of up to 25%, and believes that the Scottish Government should make clear in a statement that it does not believe that this publicly owned company should proceed with these proposals.