Ferries scandal Scotland: Minister unable to guarantee design changes on delayed Ferguson Marine ferries will be signed off due to safety concerns

Economy secretary Neil Gray says he was not aware of the safety concerns raised by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency when he last updated the Scottish Parliament on two new ferries

A senior Scottish Government minister says he is unable to give a guarantee that design changes on two long-delayed ferries will be signed off over safety concerns.

Economy secretary Neil Gray said decisions on how safe the new MV Glen Sannox was could further delay the long-overdue ship from sailing.

The minister told MSPs he was not made aware of an issue around crew escape routes when he last updated the Scottish Parliament on the delivery dates and total costs of the new vessels. He also failed to answer questions on when the ship would enter service with the ferry operator CalMac.

The MV Glen Rosa at Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow. Image: John Devlin/National World.

This comes as a Holyrood committee said Mr Gray must give the auditor the power to be able to review Ferguson Marine’s financial records.

Last month the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) told Ferguson Marine the designs of MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa, which are languishing in the Port Glasgow shipyard five years behind schedule and more than three times their original budget, are not up to safety standards.

Design changes have been suggested to solve this problem, but they are still being considered by the MCA, the minister said.

Mr Gray said: “With respect, it is not just a minor thing, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s decision-making on the safety of crew escapes from the ships. This is pretty fundamental to whether or not the design of the ferry allows it to sail.

“It is not an inconsequential matter.”

Mr Gray said he was not sure when the first concerns around the design of the ship were raised, but said the regulator had been involved in discussions with the shipyard for a long time already.

Edward Mountain MSP, the Scottish Conservative convener of the committee, said he did not believe the concerns about the safety of the ship had “come out of the blue”. He criticised the lack of a clear answer on when the ship would enter service.

David Tydeman, chief executive of Ferguson Marine, is expected to update Parliament on additional costs and delivery dates for the two ferries by the end of the month.

After this admission from Mr Gray, the Scottish Conservatives’ transport spokesman Graham Simpson said: “Neil Gray’s admission that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency hasn’t yet signed off on the changes needed on the Glen Sannox should ring alarm bells.

“It seems incredible that after years of bungles and delays, this fiasco should still be dragging on. Any responsible government would be moving heaven and earth to sort out this scandal, get the vessels finished and at long last provide the lifeline service islanders deserve.

“Instead, we still have no assurance of when – or even if – this ferry will ever sail.”

This comes as Holyrood’s public audit committee said Mr Gray must give the Auditor General the power to review Ferguson Marine’s financial records.

The committee had recommended the Auditor General for Scotland Stephen Boyle undertakes this review to help understand how the shipyard spent £128.25 million of public money on two new vessels.

These two vessels, now known as MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa, are languishing in the Port Glasgow shipyard five years behind schedule and more than three times their original £97m budget.

The Auditor General has said he also wants to undertake a review of Ferguson Marine’s finances, but stressed he does not have the legal powers to do so.

After taking legal advice, Mr Gray said the Scottish Government needed to make what is called a “competent order” under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 to make this happen.

The public audit committee has said the Scottish Government must take this step so the financial records, which the shipyard is now in possession of, can be officially reviewed.

Richard Leonard MSP, convener of the committee, said the body was continuing to press the Government to get more information about the two vessels into the public domain.

He said: “Many questions around the ferry fiasco remain unanswered. Chief among them – what exactly happened to the £128.25m of public money given to Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd?

“It is encouraging that the Auditor General for Scotland agrees with the committee that there is clear merit in undertaking this work. However, the Auditor General does not currently have the power to undertake a forensic analysis of Ferguson Marine’s records.

“This can be rectified – the Scottish Government could, if it wished to, open up these records for examination.”

Mr Leonard has now written to the Government, urging the Cabinet secretary to make this “competent order” and give the Auditor General the powers he needs.

In his letter, Mr Leonard also repeated the public audit committee’s calls for the Government to make the two commissioned reports on the funding and future options for Ferguson Marine, and the due diligence work used to make a value for money assessment on MV Glen Rosa, available to the public.

Earlier this year the Government refused to release this information, which ministers used to justify spending an additional £72m of taxpayer money on the shipyard.

Mr Leonard said: “The committee is also unconvinced that commissioned reports that have informed Government decisions around continuing with this project cannot be published in some form, and so we have asked for this decision to be revisited.

“The Government has repeatedly made clear that it is committed to transparency. This is an opportunity for that to be demonstrated, and we see no reason why this cannot happen as a matter of urgency.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The Scottish Government remains committed to being as open and transparent as possible in relation to decisions around Ferguson Marine (FMPG) and vessels 801 and 802, and has proactively published more than 200 documents on its website. We have co-operated at every stage of the recent Public Audit Committee inquiry, as well as those previously undertaken by the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee and Audit Scotland.“We have received a letter from the Public Audit Committee and will respond in due course.”