These are the lines Transport Scotland accidentally missed out when they submitted a copy of Derek Mackay’s letter to Stuart McMillan, of 2 Feb 2015, to the committee. Fortunately, Stuart McMillan himself submitted the full copy.

Mr Leonard raises the issue of a submission from Transport Scotland. He claims the committee was provided with an incomplete and "censored" version of a letter from then transport secretary Derek McKay to MSP Stuart McMillan.

Two key paragraphs from this letter were omitted, however Ms Sturgeon says the full letter had been published separately on the committee's website and it was clearly an "inadvertent formatting error".

Turning to evidence from Audit Scotland, Mr Leonard says the body asked the Scottish government for all documentation relating to the minister’s decision on the allocation of the ferry contract, to which they received none.

He says Audit Scotland's position is there was "insufficient documentary evidence" on why the contract was given.

Ms Sturgeon says she would endeavour to publish any information that was not already available on the process.

Image source, Getty Images

Committee convener Richard Leonard begins by asking the FM for clarity on some points.

He says the committee asked government minister Keith Brown three questions, to which he responded in 150 words - and asks whether Nicola Sturgeon thinks this is a satisfactory response.

She says she believes that Mr Brown, who was infrascture secretary at the time of the contract being awarded, answered the committee's questions, adding: "I am the first minister and I’m here to answer questions for as long as committee wants."

The issues here are complex and span several years, adds Ms Sturgeon.

The first minister says: "To be clear, the Scottish government accepts all of the recommendations in the Audit Scotland report.

"And, of course, we also accept unreservedly that the outcome in relation to these vessels is not what anyone, including the Scottish government, would have expected at the point of contract award."

In her opening statement, Nicola Sturgeon tells the committee: "I think it's important to say at the outset that I am acutely aware that the delay in vessels 801 and 802 is having a very significant impact on island communities."

The first minister adds: "That is a matter of considerable regret."

Public Audit Committee, external convener Richard Leonard welcomes Nicola Sturgeon and we'll begin with an opening statement from the first minister.

Here's a reminder of the Auditor General for Scotland’s report - New Vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides., external

And the committee papers for this morning's meeting are available here, external.

Image source, Getty Images

In 2015, the award of a contract for two huge CalMac ferries seemed to seal an extraordinary turnaround for Ferguson shipyard.

The last commercial shipyard on the Clyde had gone into administration the previous year, but was rescued by Jim McColl, a businessman who sat on the first minister’s council of economic advisers.

McColl’s parent company Clyde Blowers was now investing millions in the yard, and the contract seemed to promise a secure future.

But amid the jubilation, the workers were also worried. The ships were bigger than any previously built in the small shipyard, and the schedule demanded they be built simultaneously, something the workers were deeply sceptical about.

Things would not end well.

Read more here.

The Audit Scotland report in March only looked at events that took place after the Ferguson shipyard was named a preferred bidder for the contract on 31 August 2015.

Since then, a BBC documentary has uncovered evidence that the Jim McColl's firm FMEL had an unfair advantage during the tendering process itself.

The BBC Disclosure programme revealed:

• FMEL was allowed onto the shortlist of bidders despite flagging up its difficulties over the BRG as early as December 2014 and failing to provide any evidence that it might be able to satisfy that "mandatory" requirement at a later stage.
• Ferguson was allowed to substantially change its bid after the tender deadline, modifying its design and reducing its price which had initially been nearly £110m.
• CMAL's assessors knew whose bids they were scoring despite the competing shipyards being labelled A-F, giving an appearance of an anonymised process. They also held an in-person "clarification" meeting with FMEL's design team.
• A key section of FMEL's bid was "cut and pasted" from a detailed CalMac document outlining its desired specification, a document that was not available to other bidders. CMAL officials, who would have been familiar with the CalMac document, raised no red flags. The level of detail in FMEL's submission was given as justification for awarding it high scores for "quality", which outweighed the fact it was the most expensive bid.

After the programme was broadcast, Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood she had not seen any evidence of criminality in the procurement. CMAL has since written to the audit committee offering explanations for the issues raised in the BBC documentary.

You can watch The Great Ferries Scandal here.

Image source, Andrew Cowan

MSPs have already visited the shipyard at the centre of the ferry-building contract.

Holyrood's public audit committee is investigating the delay in delivering two CalMac ferries being built at the Ferguson Marine yard in Inverclyde.

Committee convener Richard Leonard said they wanted to speak to staff to get to the bottom of "contradictory evidence" heard by the committee.

He said the key questions he wanted answered concerned the award of the contract and its terms, and the nationalisation of the yard.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

The Scottish government published emails that confirmed former transport minister Derek Mackay approved the ferries deal. But in Holyrood exchanges, Ms Sturgeon said that as first minister she took ultimate responsibility.

She said: "The buck stops with me and I have never tried to shy away from that on any issue. I am not defending the cost overruns or the delay to the construction of these ferries, it is completely unacceptable."

Public audit committee convener Richard Leonard said the committee wanted to ask the first minister about the level at which decisions about the ferry contract were made.

"It's clear that the first minister's name has been mentioned in some of the evidence we've taken, whether it's around the announcement of the preferred-bidder status of the yard, whether it's about the decision to launch the Glen Sannox a couple of years later, but also about at what level in government were decisions taken," he said.

"The award of the contract, the decision to nationalise the yard - were these decisions taken by ministers? Were these decisions taken by cabinet? Were these decisions with the full involvement of the first minister, or not?

"We've heard contradictory evidence on that, so we're keen to get to the bottom of that."

Image source, PA Media

Nicola Sturgeon is due to give evidence to MSPs investigating the delays and huge over-spend in the construction of two new CalMac ferries.

Holyrood's public audit committee is following up on a damning Audit Scotland report.

The ships are five years late and could end up costing more than £300m.

The first minister has previously said that while former transport minister Derek Mackay approved the deal, the "buck stops" with her.

The £97m "fixed price" contract was awarded to the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow in 2015, a year after it was rescued by businessman Jim McColl, a prominent SNP supporter who sat on the first minister's council of economic advisers.

• Read more here
• Dossier suggests ferry deal may have been rigged
• Ferries deal awarded without financial safeguards

Image source, Robert Perry

Welcome to our live coverage of the public audit committee, external, as it takes evidence from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the controversy over the delayed construction of two CalMac ferries.

The first minister will appear in person as part of the committee’s ongoing work focussing on issues raised in the Auditor General for Scotland’s report - New Vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides., external

The evidence session is due to start at 10:00 and is likely to run until around 11:30.

The papers for the meeting are available here, external.