Kate Forbes has 'full confidence' in Ferguson Marine 'quality' bids

The Herald Scotland

3 days ago

Ms Forbes declared businesses had indicated 'they feel…we're on their side in navigating these choppy waters'.
On the Ferguson Marine yard at Port Glasgow, which has been owned by the Scottish Government since 2019, she declared she had 'full confidence in the ability of the yard to submit quality tenders' for future work.
Ms Forbes added: 'I would like to think that all parties in the Scottish Parliament want to see Ferguson Marine succeed and survive, which is why we need to build confidence, not knock it.'
Ferguson Marine revealed last month that delivery of the Glen Rosa for CalMac's Arran route would be delayed further. Delivery of the vessel is now expected in the second quarter of next year.
The Port Glasgow yard lost out earlier this year in the tendering process for seven small, fully electric ferries to be built for CalMac.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), which is responsible for the procurement process and like CalMac and Ferguson Marine is owned by the Scottish Government, chose Polish shipbuilder Remontowa after a tendering process for the first phase of the small vessel replacement programme.
The second phase of this programme, comprising another three fully electric ferries, will be the subject of a separate competitive tendering process later this year, CMAL has said.
Asked if she believes Ferguson Marine can submit a competitive bid for the next phase of the small vessel replacement programme or whether she thinks that will come too soon for the yard, Ms Forbes replied: 'In terms of the next phase of the small vessel replacement programme, that is one of a number of opportunities for Ferguson Marine.
'And I have been crystal clear that Ferguson Marine's future relies on them being able to competitively bid in the open market for new work. Ferguson Marine said that the feedback they got in the procurement for the first phase of the small vessel replacement programme was really positive. They talked about the quality of the bid, that it was competitive in terms of quality, and that speaks to the skills and the ability of the workforce at Ferguson Marine. Obviously, we have then separately talked about the need to improve productivity with investment in facilities and equipment at the yard. But I have full confidence in the ability of the yard to submit quality tenders for work.'
Asked if she had been unhappy with recent progress at Ferguson Marine, in terms of the latest delay in delivery of the Glen Rosa, Ms Forbes said: 'I, of course, was really disappointed with the delay to the Glen Rosa and the budget implications of that delay. And I was very clear in public at the time that I thought it was unacceptable.
'I felt that we need to deliver these vessels for the sake of the islanders, yes, but also because we need to restore confidence in the yard and those delays don't help with the public narrative about the yard, and it's hard enough for the yard to secure work with all of the political noise that goes on about Ferguson Marine.'
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes (Image: Colin Mearns)
The Scottish Government's relationship with the business community has been sharply in focus in recent years.
Ms Forbes, who became Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic in May last year when John Swinney became First Minister, flagged her belief that the relationship with business had improved.
Asked if she believed the overall relationship between the Scottish Government and business had improved in the last year, she replied: 'I think so. I mean, the first meetings I had when I became Economy Secretary was with all the business organisations one by one, to understand what their top asks were.'
Ms Forbes declared the Scottish Government had since then worked through the first programme for government, then the Budget last December, and now the most recent programme for government 'to try and deliver against those asks'.
Read more
She said: 'And I think the business community understand that we can't do everything overnight, but we can either stop doing things that would otherwise have made the cost of business higher, or do things that lower the cost of business. The most recent programme for government led with economic growth and prosperity. So our sentiment, my sentiment is pro-economy, pro-prosperity, pro-business.
'And that underpins all of our other objectives. So without economic growth and prosperity, you don't raise the revenue to reinvest in resilient public services. Without a strong growing economy, you can't get to net zero because you have to partner with innovative enterprising businesses to develop the solutions that we need. And then you can't tackle child poverty unless parents in particular have access to well-paid secure employment created in many cases by the private sector. So I see their role as underpinning our other three objectives and my job is to try and make Scotland as successful and as prosperous as possible.'
In an interview with The Herald last June, Ms Forbes said the greater income tax burden for higher earners in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK would be kept 'under review', taking into account 'how easy it is for taxpayers to shift'.
The Scottish Government last December, in the first Budget since Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes took up their current posts, did not increase further the disparity in the income tax burden between higher earners in Scotland and those elsewhere in the UK.
On the question of future income tax decisions, Ms Forbes said yesterday: 'The First Minister was very clear when he became leader that he didn't believe that you could continually raise income tax, and that we should provide certainty. And that's what last year's Budget delivered - the Budget announcement last year for this financial year. And the programme for government then built on that in May - being very clear that there wouldn't be further divergence from the rest of the UK on income tax for the remainder of this parliament.
'And the reasons for that is because certainty matters in a world that seems to be constantly in flux with lots of global headwinds and challenges of recruitment for businesses. The more certainty that we can provide, the better. And the only changes to income tax was essentially a small reduction for the basic and intermediate rate-payers because of the above-inflationary increase to the thresholds.'
Asked about the reaction of business to the income tax stance, given this had been an issue that had been highlighted previously, Ms Forbes replied: 'I think we have seen a lot of positive comments from the business community.'
She said: 'They have indicated that they feel the Scottish Government is listening, that they are taking any concern seriously and that we're on their side in navigating these choppy waters. Now, we obviously only…have limited powers over taxation. What's really hit them hard this year was the increase to employers' national insurance contributions, which is essentially a jobs tax, and it was, for many of them, a total surprise because it hadn't been flagged in Labour's manifesto.
'So I think in that context, the more that the Scottish Government can do to provide stability and certainty, the better, and the strong signals from the business community is they feel they are getting that now from the Scottish Government.'