In a sharp exchange, the Inverness and Nairn MSP said: 'I hear what you are saying, cabinet secretary, but I'm just not convinced'
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00:00 I hope that some of the other ministers' comments, including Nicola Sturgeon's, are
00:07 helpful to the committee. She pointed out that Mr Neil was absolutely correct to say
00:14 that funding had been identified for his purposes at that time. Ms Sturgeon's view was that
00:25 that was for a one-to-two-year period during a long project. That is not uncommon for major
00:32 projects. At the very beginning of such a complex project, it is seldom that you have
00:36 certainty over delivery and funding right through to the end. However, that is what
00:41 it was. It was Mr Neil's impression of that one-to-two-year period, rather than the whole
00:44 thing.
00:45 I hear what you say, cabinet secretary, but I am just not convinced, because there was
00:48 a complete failure to adhere to the very clear schedule of works and programming, because
00:54 it set out in which year every section would be done. That is completely abandoned.
01:00 I do not deny that there were delays, Mr Ewing. I think that the principal reason for that
01:05 was the two things that I pointed out to the convener. First, there was the ONS reclassification
01:09 of the not-for-profit distribution model in 2014 and a one-to-two-year delay on statutory
01:14 processes.
01:15 I was interested in the emphasis that you have given to the ONS decision. I do not recall
01:20 there being any ministerial statement about that at the time. Why not?
01:24 I could not say for certain what the parliamentary choreography was around that, Mr Ewing. I
01:29 am afraid I was not there, nor am I in a position to say why or why not that was not done.
01:33 I appreciate that you were not responsible. I was part of the Government for a while,
01:38 so I had a collective responsibility. I have never sought to shrug away from that, but
01:43 I never had portfolio responsibility.
01:46 Why did it take five years from the critical watershed decision of the ONS, when apparently
01:53 there was no statement made to Parliament about how significant it was, even though
01:57 you now say that it was the absolute critical moment in your view? Why did it take until
02:03 2019 for there to be a plan about private finance? That is five years during which most
02:09 of the work was supposed to have been done, or a very substantial proportion, according
02:13 to Alex Neil's plan.
02:16 Two sides to that question, and I will try to take them both. I might briefly pass to
02:22 officials to explain some of the work that was done on developing an alternative private
02:25 financing model. You are right—five years is a long time. I know that Scottish Futures
02:33 Trust was involved, and MIM was developed by the Welsh Government and is being adapted
02:38 for use in Scotland. I should say that I do not just identify that as the key issue; I
02:45 also see that there were delays in statutory processes.