Chamber and committees

Has that research been carried out by the Scottish Government, or is it independent? Does it take into account the Government’s approach to a wellbeing economy and the areas that we want to expand for exports or imports?

Thank you. Other members will ask more questions about community involvement. Colin Beattie will ask the next questions; he will be followed by Colin Smyth.

Good morning and welcome to the 12th meeting of the Economy and Fair Work Committee in 2023. I have received apologies from Michelle Thomson; John Mason is attending in her place.

Our first item of business is a decision to consider the evidence received during the just transition inquiry, and correspondence from the Public Audit Committee, in private at our next meeting. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

Cabinet secretary, we are concerned about the work that the board is doing, too, but we could not get anyone to engage with us here on what that is. We did receive a paper briefing, but we were keen to take evidence in person, so the board’s response has been a bit piecemeal. We appreciate that another official was due to come to this meeting, and we totally understand his reasons for not being here.

I remind members that we are not the committee with responsibility for transport. However, I hand over to Graham Simpson for a short supplementary.

I think that the committee will welcome that, given the commission’s quite detailed, 84-point response to the draft energy plan. If that engagement happens at an earlier stage, it might increase the meaningfulness of the draft strategies as they are developed.

I wonder whether you can reflect of the experience of Longannet. One of the reasons why our emissions have reduced is the closure of the energy plant in Kincardine, following which the just transition committee commented that, although there had been success in reallocating jobs, there was no evidence of any benefits coming to the local community. It also said that the local community had not been consulted. Are there any lessons that the Government can learn from what was seen as an opportunity for a just transition at Longannet that did not appear to be realised? I suppose that Grangemouth will be the next big place to go through a transition similar to what Kincardine went through, so have any lessons been taken from that experience?

Before I bring in Maggie Chapman, I think that the cabinet secretary might be interested to know that we held an inquiry into town centres and retail last year. As some of its findings are relevant to Grangemouth, she and the team might want to have a look at our report.

I have a couple of points for clarification. First, the committee has not heard from a representative of Ineos; we had a trade union representative from the plant, but Ineos itself has not given evidence to the committee.

Secondly, the committee was keen to hear from the Grangemouth future industry board, but our understanding is that it is not really a board but more of a forum. We were keen to engage with it on some of the issues that you have talked about, such as roads and planning, but it does not have representatives as such. In fact, we have struggled a wee bit to understand its purpose and how it relates to us as a parliamentary committee. The cabinet secretary seems to hold the responsibility for speaking on its behalf. Is that correct?

I have had a request from Chris Bryceland to contribute. Chris, would you like to come in?

Our next item of business is the seventh evidence session in our inquiry into a just transition for the Grangemouth area. I welcome Màiri McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition. She is joined by Chris Bryceland, the energy and infrastructure team leader, who is joining us remotely; Catriona Laing, deputy director for the climate change division; Andy McCall, the team leader for the industrial just transition planning team; and Liam Middleton, the head of critical energy infrastructure and commercial projects, all of whom are from the Scottish Government.

As always, it would be helpful if members and witnesses could keep their questions and answers as concise as possible.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.