Scottish Ferries

The motion

That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Government’s proposals for new vessels and services in the ferry sector, as set out in its Draft Ferries Plan; agrees that there must be value for money in delivering publicly funded services; believes that the six-yearly tendering process for ferry services threatens the future provision of integrated lifeline ferry services and new vessels and that such a tendering process serves the long-term interests of private ferry companies at the expense of passengers and taxpayers; notes expert opinion that tendering is not legally necessary; understands that the University of Glasgow’s report into ferry services found no evidence of services being run inefficiently in the public sector and that the private sector is in no better position than the public sector to charter the specialist vessels that are required to replace the ageing fleet; supports, at the very least, the same workforce protections provided in previous tenders for ferry services in the event that tendering does takes place for the 2013-19 Clyde and Hebrides ferry service contract, and would welcome proposals that will safeguard the existing provision of high-quality ferry services.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

Lab 17

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S4M-03428 by reference.