Chamber and committees

That might be helpful. Does Catriona Laing want to come in?

I will bring in Jamie Halcro Johnston in a minute.

With regard to renewables, the minister will be aware of concerns about cuts in this year’s budget to local authorities for energy efficiency schemes. I understand that those cuts are to do with an underspend. As someone who is trying to deliver in that area, what discussions are you having on that matter? We know from the Climate Change Committee’s report this morning that housing and buildings are among the weak areas in which we need to see more progress. How can those funds be retained within the sector? Why, for example, have there been underspends? We need to resolve those issues, because we cannot devalue that sort of funding. It is important that the money is spent, so how can we ensure in the future that it is spent and that it is retained to fund the important measures that need to be implemented in the area?

Thank you very much.

This morning, the Climate Change Committee said that Scotland has lost its lead over the rest of the UK on tackling climate change. To some extent, we are going backwards—we are being overtaken. We had high ambitions and were making significant progress, but that is starting to stall. It does not take a strategy to work out some of the simple things that we need to do but on which we are not seeing progress.

Graham Simpson has some questions on some of those areas.

We all have a shared ambition of achieving the goal of a just transition. The target date is 2045, and you will know that the Climate Change Committee published a report this morning that expresses concerns about progress, although it recognises the ambition in Scotland. It says that the Scottish Government lacks a clear delivery plan and that there is no coherent explanation of how its policies can achieve targets. It also expresses concern about the ability to deliver a fair and equitable transition unless the targets are being achieved.

Although you do not have responsibility for the climate change targets, you do have responsibility for just transition. I am looking for a response to the Climate Change Committee’s comments. How do you see the challenges that it sets out and the impact that they will have on what you are trying to do in the just transition and sectoral plans? Given the significance of what has been said in the report this morning and the fact that you are looking at publishing plans in the spring, is there an intention to review those plans? What impact will that have on the planning work that is taking place?

You referred to green jobs. There has been debate about the definition of green jobs, with the Office for National Statistics raising issues in the autumn about what defines a green job and how we measure it. It would be good to get an update on that from the Government.

Will the reports that will come out in spring, which are for co-design, include those other priority areas? Will there be clear indicators of the activity that needs to be prioritised to make a difference?

We will move on to questions on finance. I will bring in Michelle Thomson, and I think that Fiona Hyslop and Maggie Chapman also have questions on that.

I will allow members who have already asked questions to come in again, but keep questions short. That would be helpful.

Do you have any details of the timescale? You said that you are looking at regulations.