Meeting of the Parliament 25 November 2015
As a consequence of our designing the tender process, we will continue to own the vessels and to set fares and timetables. In that sense, the services are still publicly owned. It is not the case that we are potentially selling the services.
Our investment in the road equivalent tariff has delivered significant fare reductions for passengers, cars, coaches and small commercial vehicles. We have frozen ferry fares for 2016-17 and we are in the process of finalising improvements to next year’s summer timetables, delivering community aspirations and meeting the increase in demand due to the road equivalent tariff. No previous Administration has invested as much as this Administration has in support for our lifeline ferry services, and all that investment would be at risk if we were not to tender those services in line with EU rules.
The Administration is 100 per cent committed to developing and supporting Clyde and Hebrides ferry services under public ownership. Claims that the services are up for privatisation are totally untrue. As I confirmed in my statement to the chamber on 24 June,
“no matter the outcome of that process, the Scottish ministers will retain ownership and control of all the vessels and ports that are currently under public ownership. We will set routes, timetables and fares as now and retain full control of the services that the operator provides through the public service contract”—[Official Report, 24 June 2015; c 19.]
as we do now.
I also assure everyone who depends on those vital services that we are undertaking a fair, open and transparent tender process. In my statement to the chamber on 24 June, I announced that we would set up an “independent procurement reference panel” to provide assurance that nothing is being done that could be perceived as discriminating against either bidder. The panel’s first report on the initial tender was published on Transport Scotland’s website on 3 November, and the panel concluded that the tender is fair, open and transparent. The panel further concluded that “appropriate and relevant information” must be made available “to both participants”, and Transport Scotland is doing that. The panel will consider the interim and final invitations to tender, and those documents and the panel’s comments will also be published, emphasising our commitment to a fair, open and transparent tendering process.
The people who rely on these lifeline services can and do have the highest level of confidence that the procurement process is fair and transparent and does not favour one bidder over another. The current tendering exercise is no different from that undertaken by the previous Labour-Liberal Democrat Administration when it decided in 2005 that it was a legal requirement to tender the contract.