Chamber and committees

I want to come back in on dispatchable electricity and some of the challenges in securing a route to market. I will perhaps start with Morag Watson, and if other witnesses want to come in, that will be fine. In particular, I want to ask you about pumped storage hydro and any other technologies with which there are issues in establishing a clear route to market at the moment.

Scott Mathieson or Aileen McLeod, do you want to come in on pumped hydro or any other issues around dispatchable technologies?

That is great. I am sure we will keep coming back to those themes.

We will come back to hydrogen in a bit more depth later. I will go to Emily Rice.

That was very useful, and it brings me on to the next topic, which is your impression of how the common frameworks are working. This week in Parliament there was some scrutiny of the resources and waste common framework. I listened with interest to a Scottish Government civil servant, who explained that the approach is very evidence based. I would not say that it is completely politics-free, but it feels like an iterative framework that considers evidence on issues such as exemptions around the deposit return scheme or single-use plastics. What are your overall impressions of common frameworks right now? Is there enough transparency? Will common frameworks be put under pressure by individual issues that are coming out of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 or, indeed, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill?

I want to follow up on the points around the culture. The issue was raised during last week’s committee meeting. We have been quite focused in this inquiry on looking at the formal consent mechanisms of the Sewel convention. We noticed that there are references in the evidence that you submitted to consultation entering legislation. To what extent are there good examples of Governments going beyond formal consent mechanisms and consultation—whatever form that might take—and working together in areas where there may be or has been co-design? I am not sure who would like to start. Akash, you are on my screen, so maybe you could start, and then we can work backwards.

Would you say that what Akash is describing is more akin to how the UK Government would work with an English region—be that a mayoral set-up, a county council or a regional body—in selecting a priority and seeking involvement in that policy?

Does John Denham have any reflections on that?

Okay. I am getting words of reassurance about how the common frameworks process has been working and continues to work. However, there is still a potential threat that the exclusion will not be granted. What would happen then?

That is a clear driver and target for CSL to be aiming at—is that right?