Hansard

As Joe Burns's surname begins with a "B", he has—unfortunately—anticipated me by saying many of the things that I was going to say. I agree with most of the views that he has outlined to the committee. In the northern part of the country, we found the short mobilisation period challenging. My one hope for the future is that there will be a reasonable period in which to get a business together and to start dealing with such a big contract. I was pleased that, despite the short mobilisation period, the PAG report considered that we were as good in the first year as the previous incumbents were in the previous year and that we had provided a comparable service. That was encouraging.I do not want to spend time repeating what Joe Burns has said, but I think that it might be worth while to give some background and to say what we do and how we are constructed. BEAR Scotland Ltd is owned by three shareholder companies, which are major players in the United Kingdom construction market. They are Jacobs Babtie, which is a consulting engineers company; Ennstone Thistle Ltd, which is a road surfacing and quarrying company; and Ringway, which is a highway maintenance provider to the public sector. We are based in Perth and, as members know, we look after the north-west and north-east contracts, which are the main focus of the company's activity. That means that we are a dedicated resource that gives a dedicated service to the trunk road network.On scale, the network is 2,500km of carriageway. I have been reliably informed that that is enough road to stretch from Aberdeen to Moscow—one wonders why one would want to take such a road, but never mind. We have a local presence through 11 depots around the country. We are also supported by our local authority partners—by Aberdeen City Council and through Tayside Contracts. In addition, we have strong commercial relationships with Argyll and Bute Council and Highland Council.Although many people think of us simply as the contractor out there who digs holes, we actually have a full range of services. In addition to dealing with network management, we have operational delivery teams and a large consultancy business with professionals who design various schemes and deliver accident investigation, for example. At a higher level, professional support is available to us from our shareholders as and when we need it. We also have a finance and administration team. Our well-developed local supply chain ensures that local industry shares in the workload that is generated by the contracts, as do the local authorities, with which we have active relationships.Our main asset is our people. Among our 330 staff who are spread throughout the north of Scotland, there is a wealth of experience and local knowledge. A point that is not always understood is that many of our employees previously worked for local authorities but transferred over to us under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. We blended them into a team with individuals from private companies. That was a healthy thing to do and we have all learned a lot from it.We have been independently recognised as providing a comparable service to the previous operators. Our annual reports have demonstrated a year-on-year improvement and we are happy with the performance that we are giving under the specification.People tend to dwell on the negatives, so let me highlight some positives. Over several years, we have dealt effectively with major landslides in the north of Scotland, especially with those that happened at the same time last year on the A9, the A83 and the A85. That was a challenge to us, but we worked well and we were recognised by the media as having provided a quick and efficient service in reopening the roads quickly.Our safety record for highway maintenance is considerably better than the national average. We target a 50 per cent year-on-year reduction in incidents arising from our activities on the network. We also carry out more than 1,500 safety audits each year to ensure that what we do is as safe as it can be.In conjunction with the client, we have developed an asset and inventory management system to establish the network's asset base, so that we can know better how to deal with things as we go forward. We have also innovated through schemes such as the two-plus-one scheme on the A9. Some people think that that is controversial but we believe that, in a maintenance environment, delivering a third lane will ease congestion and make it easier to maintain the road.In summary, we recognise that the public want safe and uneventful journeys on the network. It is not always possible to ensure that every customer who comes into contact with us is satisfied with the outcome, but we believe that we provide an excellent service that not only meets our contractual requirements but has already been proven to provide value for money through the competitive process.I am proud of our record and of our staff, who, day in, day out, deliver results that are independently verified as being in line with the requirements that are placed on us. My colleague and I will be pleased to answer any questions.