Chamber and committees

It is also important to stress that the guarantee generates income for the Scottish Government and that GFG Alliance is up to date with its fee payments. We will make sure that that continues to be the case with the investment decisions that Mr Cook has given more detail about.

Nothing is anticipated. Progress is good. As I say, the asset is currently generating income for the Scottish Government, but we will keep monitoring the situation closely to ensure that our investment continues to be strong and that the commitments, including on the billet factory, are met.

Ms Thomson absolutely gets to the nub of the issue: we need to understand the landscape within which we operate if we are to have informed policy decisions aimed at improving the situation.

To answer her question directly, I have to say that I am more than open minded. The first step would be to ensure that we are working on that initial recommendation. I cannot give a full commitment until I have met Ms Stewart and we have published our response in detail, but I can say that Ms Stewart will certainly have a sympathetic ear from me in that regard.

Obviously, we keep the situation under constant review and we will seek to recoup the money that has been invested in Prestwick as best we can, to ensure good value for the public purse. I am sure that Graham Simpson would expect that.

We expect Mr Withers’s report very soon. When it arrives, I and colleagues across Government—after all, the issue touches not just on my areas of responsibility but on those of Jenny Gilruth, Graeme Dey and others across Government—will ensure that we respond timeously and that we take seriously what he says.

As for the climate report, I turn to Gary Gillespie to fill in the detail.

We will ensure that we follow that up with the committee in writing as and when Mr Withers’s report comes back. To give Mr Beattie confidence, I can confirm in answer to his question that the two elements will be joined.

That is work in progress. Part of the area that we touched on in an exchange with Ms Hyslop at yesterday’s meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee was how we ensure that we have both a successful supply chain and a successful infrastructure to enable us to deliver on our net zero ambitions.

Mr Beattie is right to say that public finance is finite. We have already touched on the current challenges in the sector, because of the areas that have been impacted in recent years thanks to decisions outwith our control. However, we continue to work with the likes of the Scottish National Investment Bank and our investor panel on where we can leverage private capital to ensure that we are able to meet such demands both on investments, in the form of private capital coming into the supply chain, and on the required infrastructure.

The scale of that will be challenging. National Grid Electricity System Operator Limited estimates that the grid infrastructure alone will require investment of £7 billion; in any case, a substantial amount of capital will be required. We will do what we can both on our investment priorities, to deliver as much as we can within that envelope, and on working with private capital to ensure that we can meet those demands.

Yes, is the short answer. A wellbeing economy metric flows through NSET and the pillars that form it, so there is a wellbeing economy lens on the performance and delivery of NSET.

We have created a new offshore wind directorate to ensure that we learn from the process that was under way with onshore wind and the supply chain that feeds it. You will see the early stages of that coming to fruition in some of the potential investment decisions that are coming through, which will ensure a strong domestic supply chain here in Scotland—for example, you can see that in the Sumitomo announcement, but also in the potential investments in the likes of Ardersier, Kishorn and other ports, where, I hope, we will be able to realise the economic and jobs benefits that the renewables revolution has the potential to produce.

I have not met Mr Gupta and have no current plans to do so.