 If I can ask those members leaving the chamber to please do so quietly, we now move to urgent questions. I call Graeum Simpson. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to restore ferry services between Mal egg oban and luck boys' dail in South US in light of the announcement that the services are to be withdrawn from 5 April to 13 May. Minister Kevin Stewart? Thank you, Presiding Officer. Transport Scotland met with CalMac earlier today, and they confirmed that they are doing everything possible to bring vessels back into service and minimise the period that the Loch Boysdale-Obin-Mally Groot is out of service. CalMac has also put in place mitigation by increasing services on the Barra to Erisge route to allow greater use of the services from Barra. We recognise the real challenges being faced and regret the disruption that this is causing to island communities and, of course, island businesses. It is however important to note that islands remain open for business and CalMac are highlighting where there is capacity on secondary routes. As members are aware, we have provided funding for the charter of the MV Alfred that will enable additional resilience in the fleet when she comes into service next month. Graham Simpson? I thank the minister for his answer. Can I start by welcoming him to his new post? He is only minutes into the role, but he is not off to a good start. His answer will be of no comfort to islanders who will be without a ferry service to the mainland for five weeks. It is hard for those of us who live on the mainland to understand the impact of that, because most of us have choices of how we get about, no matter how bad public transport is. CalMac chief executive Robbie Drummond calls it a challenging period that could go on for two years. It is worse than challenging. It is disastrous. So, with the holiday period looming, what will the minister be doing on his break to sort this out? I thank Mr Simpson for welcoming me to this new post. Mr Simpson and I have been opposing in various roles in this Parliament previously. As Mr Simpson well knows, I will always do my level best. What will I be doing over the next week while? Today, I met Transport Scotland directors to discuss some of the most important issues facing transport in Scotland. This afternoon, I will be speaking with CalMac about this and other issues. I recognise how important those ferry services are for our island communities. They are lifelines. I served as chair of Nestrans in a previous life on the Northern Isles lifeline ferry service committee. I recognise the impacts that those kinds of things have on our island communities. I will be doing all that I can to ensure that CalMac gets it right for all our island communities and that the chamber can be assured that I will continue to update everyone on how we are going about that. I am not sure that any of that will be a comfort to islanders, but to be fair to the minister, he has inherited a disaster. Islands and particularly businesses on the US need help. Has the Government done any analysis of the impact on the local community and the economy of that? Can the minister commit to looking at a compensation scheme for islanders and reduced fares on those ferries that they can use while the crisis goes on? As I said in my earlier answer, my first course of action is to speak to CalMac this afternoon and to hear what mitigations can be put in place. While the announcement by CalMac of this change has come as a shock to many, including the Government, we have to ensure that communication is right between CalMac and our island communities. I will be speaking to CalMac this afternoon. We will be seeking mitigations. I will be seeking solutions so that our island communities can give back to the normality that they should have in those regards. Of course, as always, I will continue to update Parliament on our efforts to achieve that for our island communities. I welcome the minister to his new post. I have today been inundated with messages of despair from South US. That is a community that has suffered by far, by far, the highest rate of cancellations of any island community over a period of months. For that to happen yet again, just as the Easter holidays are starting, is a devastating blow, given what I have to frankly call the abysmal state at present of CalMac's service to this particular community? Can the Scottish Government consider either a business resilience fund or other specific measures for US? I fully sympathise the impact that this is having on South US. I recognise that Dr Allan has been vociferous in all of that. The impact on his constituents will no doubt be challenging for some. The timing of that withdrawal is not the best either, given the Easter period. Scottish ministers need assurance from CalMac that this measure has been taken with full consideration to capacity and volumes on alternative routes. It is, however, important to note that CalMac has increased operations on the service from Erisgate to Barra, and there are other routes that enable people to reach South US, so that people know that island remains open for business, although car deck capacity may be pressured. As I said earlier, I will be meeting with CalMac later this afternoon, and I will impress upon them the need to minimise any outage to the service. On the point of the compensation scheme, I know that this is something that has been discussed by the Loch Boysdale business group with ministers and officials. I will need to consider this further, although our primary focus has to be on restoring those services to minimise impacts on business in the first place. As always, I am more than willing to discuss those matters with Dr Allan further as the constituency MSP. It is unacceptable that there will be no ferries from Loch Boysdale for six weeks. UST has already borne the brunt of recent disruptions. The mitigation put in place means that the small isles will also be left with only one ferry a week—again, absolutely unacceptable. Disruption is now so common that the Scottish Government have devised a disruption management traffic prioritisation framework. The framework can cancel bookings and relegates hauliers to the end of the queue, making their businesses and those depending on them absolutely unbiable. If you will procure a freight ferry to bring it to service for those periods, what assistance and compensation will it make to all those impacted, or is it just another in a long line of failed transport ministers? It must be a record in terms of already a member saying that a transport minister has failed, considering that I have not been imposed for 12 hours or 10 minutes in reality. I would say to Ms Gradd that she is quite simply confused in some of her lines of questioning because the mitigation committee that she talks of has got nothing to do with the Scottish Government and is CalMac. I intend to have discussions this afternoon with CalMac around the measures that need to be put in place here. I will talk to them about the issues that are affecting islanders, and I will do everything that I can to ensure that CalMac does the job that they need to do. In terms of future procurement of ferries, as I said, we have already brought in the MV Alfred, but I will be looking at all of this in some depth, as I know that my predecessor, Jenny Golruth did, to find solutions that work for our island communities and ensures that we have a ferry service that works for all. I hope that I am going to be some help to the minister. In 2018, the Scottish Government set up a resilience fund of £3.5 million to hold fast-moving spares for ferries that broke down so that they did not have to be manufactured. The problem was that the transport minister at the time, Graham Day, repurposed it for something else. The following year, Michael Matheson, who was the transport minister at the time, repurposed it for another reason, but said that it was being reinstated. Can the minister confirm that that money has been spent on holding spares, those spares are in stock and available to use for the ferries? If he does not know the answers, I suggest that it might be where he starts with CalMac this afternoon. I am sure that that will be part of many discussions with CalMac this afternoon, but, as my predecessor has said, there is that resilience fund that they hold. I will be questioning them about that this afternoon. I will be questioning them around the current unavailable ferries, which are MV Caledonian Isles, Clansman and Hebride Isles, to make sure that we can get those ferries back into service as soon as possible. I heard that the minister said that he was meeting with CalMac and that he was meeting with Transport Scotland. When is he meeting with the communities impacted by this? They are second tired of hearing new transport ministers making promises that are never ever delivered. I think that it is 12 minutes now since my appointment. I have already met with Transport Scotland this morning. I will be meeting with CalMac this afternoon. Of course I will be meeting with communities the length and breadth of Scotland about the transport issues that they face. Many members will recognise that, in all the ministerial roles that I have had, I have gone out of my way to listen to the voices of lived experience, because that is extremely important to me in ensuring that our policy decisions are the right one. This job is no different, and I will speak to our island communities as well as everybody else that our transport system impacts upon. I welcome the cabinet secretary to her new post. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Police Scotland call handlers used a fake system for eight years. I am grateful to Mr Rennie for laying this question. While this is a matter for Police Scotland, any suggestion that callers to Police Scotland were not having their calls properly prioritised is clearly unacceptable. I have assurances from Police Scotland that this historical practice was limited to a single regional force that is no longer in use anywhere in Scotland and has not been since 2015. Police Scotland call handling has been completely overhauled since the creation of a single national service and policing continues to be a priority for this Government. The Scottish Police Federation warned about the dumping of SCO6 calls at the time, so the Government should have known about this. Back in 2015, I also raised the alarm repeatedly about the failings of the newly centralised Police Scotland. Those systematic failings led to the tragic deaths of Lamarabelle and John New, but we were not told that call handlers used a fake system with a fictitious call sign. It was used to hide the chaos and anxious members of the public had their calls ignored. The call sign was dummy. Did ministers or Government officials know about call sign dummy? Can I say very directly to Mr Rennie that I am not aware of any information that suggests ministers were advised of this at the time? In terms of the issue at hand here, my officials in Police Division have discussed the issue, as you would expect, directly with the relevant Police Scotland division. Police Scotland has stated that, while the call sign existed, it was used when calls were at a peak so that they could be put into a holding system until they could be dealt with. Police Scotland do not believe that any calls were dropped to its use. That said, they are clear, that it is not an acceptable approach at this time. With regard to the very tragic, painful, awful loss of life on the M9 that Mr Rennie refers to, I also say directly to him that Police Scotland has given my officials categorical assurances that this historical issue is not related to the tragic death of Mr Rule and Ms Well. There is obviously a fatal accident inquiry with regard to that matter about to commend soon and I cannot at this stage add any further comment on that. Willie Rennie I am afraid that this is the culture that has been established by this Government. Spin and manipulate to avoid the truth coming out. This also lays bare the abject failure of governance. That should have been spotted by the Scottish Police Authority. So will the minister now commit to wholesale reform of the governance arrangements for the police service? I know and appreciate that when it comes to the creation of a single national police force that Mr Rennie and I sit on different sides of the fence in this one, but I also hope that in terms of the contact that he has had me over a range of portfolios over a number of years, neither me nor Mr Rennie are new to this place, that he would accept and appreciate that I am very strong and focused on governance and accountability. I would also say that Police Scotland must be one of the most scrutinised public services in Scotland and rightly so and I would point to the fact that on issues in and around call handling, there have been several reports over the past recent years carried forth by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Contrary for Scotland. Several reports dating from 2015 with very clear recommendations that have been implemented with the most recent report in 2022. I look forward to continuing to engage with Mr Rennie on this and many other matters. I, too, would like to welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role. I recognise the call handling system in question as a legacy service that was permanently deleted in 2015. However, as the new cabinet secretary has just alluded to, this will be of little comfort to those who have been personally affected by these revelations. Can I ask the cabinet secretary as she takes on her new post what steps the Scottish Government will take going forward to ensure transparency, maintain public confidence and build increased public trust in policing? I thank Ms Nicoll for her comments and, of course, look forward to future appearances at our Parliament's Criminal Justice Committee and to being held to account. Can I say to Orgy Nicoll that, starting by Rittery, it is something that I say to Mr Rennie that Police Scotland is one of the most scrutinised public services in Scotland, and that is entirely right. I will continue to work with the Scottish Police Authority, his Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, as well as national and local parliaments and, of course, this Parliament to support and challenge Police Scotland to ensure that we maintain an excellent standard of policing for all our communities. Along with the investment of nearly £1.5 billion in policing in 2023 to 2024, this coming financial year, I do expect to introduce the Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill to Parliament later this year. Jamie Greene Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I welcome the cabinet secretary to her new position? The problem is, two of her justice predecessors hold two of the highest officers of government still, and many questions yet remain unanswered about this. The cabinet secretary said that call handling has improved, but the reality is that, last year, hundreds of thousands of calls to Police Scotland went unanswered or were dropped by the caller. Can I ask around this revelation? It is a scandal, I should add. Has anyone gone back in time to review which of those calls that went into the ether? What happened to those calls? What was the exact consequence of not dealing with those calls? More importantly, can we get categorical reassurance today from the new cabinet secretary that this practice did indeed end in 2015 and has not happened once in the time since then until now? There remains serious questions unanswered. Someone must pay the price for the scandal, cabinet secretary. I do indeed appreciate why Mr Greene and other members have raised this matter today. It is, of course, a serious matter. Can I refer him without repeating and full the earlier comments that he made to other members about the explanation that has been given to the situation here? It is that this call sign existed and that it was used when calls were at a peak so that they could be put into a holding system until they could be dealt with and that Police Scotland say that they are clear that calls were not dropped due to this. Of course, as you would expect, I am due to be meeting with the chief constable shortly and this will be one of many matters that will be on the agenda. I would also again refer to the several reports that have already been carried out on this matter, including the earlier reports that made a number of recommendations that covered issues of staff and systems and processes. The follow-up report, in particular, the 2018 report that recognised the considerable priority and effort that had been made in this area, as well as the progress. I, too, would like to congratulate Angela Constance on her appointment to cabinet secretary for justice. If the cabinet secretary agrees that it is a very serious matter because the call centre system was designed to redirect actual one-on-one calls to make the response times look better. The BBC reported today that some of those calls did go unattended as a result of that. Does the cabinet secretary agree that she says that she is not aware that any other practices and other parts of the force existed? Does she agree that Police Scotland should never allow pressures to meet certain responses and targets that will ever lead to any types of practices like this ever again? Will she ensure that, since the chief constable who is leaving the service has pleaded with the Government to fund the service, to ensure that one-on-one, a vital public service continues to be the best service that can be insured the chamber today, that she will ensure that the one-on-one service will operate effectively and be adequately funded? I have reiterated to members throughout this discourse this afternoon that I consider this a serious matter, albeit one of historical practice. Nonetheless, it is imperative that we continue to govern, to scrutinise, to hold ourselves and each other to account, because it is absolutely imperative that there is the strongest possible confidence in our police force and all related practices. In terms of funding, I have already intimated that, going forward, we will invest nearly £1.5 billion in policing in terms of the resource increase. That is an increase of 6.3 per cent and an additional £80 million. As Ms McNeill will appreciate, I will be scrutinising that budget with great care and detail as we move forward. A senior police officer has told the BBC that he was instructed by Police Scotland to investigate this matter. He produced a report, but no one knows where that report is. Will the new cabinet secretary, when she meets the chief constable, instruct or request a fresh search for this crucial document? As always, I appreciate Mr Finlay's deep interest in our criminal justice system on this and a range of matters. I will indeed be meeting with the chief constable very shortly. In terms of the briefing that I have received from my officials and the extensive questions that I have already put to them, there have been five reports on issues in and around call handling thus far. I urge members to go back and look at the recommendations that were made and to look at the progress that has been made. My door is always open to any other supplementary information that needs to be drawn to my attention. That concludes the urgent questions. The next item of business is consideration of parliamentary bureau motion 8474 on suspension and variation of standing orders. I ask George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move the motion. The question on this motion will be put at decision time, and I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 11.2.4 of standing orders that decision time be brought forward to now, and I invite the minister to move the motion. I was always happy to oblige, Presiding Officer. The question is that decision time be brought forward to now. Are we all agreed? We are, and there is one question to be put as a result of today's business, and the question is the motion 8474 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on suspension and variation of standing orders be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are. The motion is therefore agreed, and that concludes decision time, and I close this meeting.