Chamber and committees

Other members will come in about green freeports and some of the broader issues, so we will return to that later.

I have a question for SDS. The “Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan 2020-2025” was published in December 2020 and the Government has promised that a refreshed plan will be produced in 2023. What evaluation has been done of the 2020 plan? Has it achieved the desired outcomes? It is quite a short time to be looking at a refresh. December 2020 to 2023 is not much time.

Last week, we had Forth Ports at the committee and we questioned the witnesses about the jobs figure. Unions have expressed frustration about confidence in the workforce, and some of that is because we hear lots of high numbers and are told, “There will be 10,000 more jobs here,” but people struggle to see them materialise. Does SDS attach targets and jobs figures to the plans? Do they have the confidence of the workforce?

Thank you.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. We will move into private session.

We value the contributions, and Fiona Hyslop and I are to blame, but we have already used 50 minutes of the evidence session, so I ask members to be concise. The discussion has been broad so far, so areas that members intended to cover might have been dealt with.

The evidence that we are hearing this morning is important to the committee and it is interesting, but we are trying to focus on Grangemouth, so we should perhaps pull some of the discussion more pointedly back to the Grangemouth area.

I think that other members will probably come on to the situation at Methil and Burntisland Fabrications Ltd. We had hopes about the situation there. I think that it was Unite’s submission that said that, when the new owners came in, it was promised that upwards of 1,000 jobs would be created. However, as you have said, there have been recent redundancies at the yard. If that is a microcosm of where the just transition is headed, that is concerning. I really hope that that is not the case, but that yard was turned around to provide for the offshore wind sector. Over the years, we have lost the industrial heart of that community as a result of what has happened at BiFab.

Agenda item 3 is consideration of a Scottish statutory instrument. The committee is invited to note the Diligence against Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2023.

The purpose of the instrument is to update the figures that are contained in part III of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, which relates to how much money an individual is allowed to keep before any payment can be taken from wages to recover debts and sets the scale of what payments can be taken above that level. The regulations increase protection for those in debt by raising the threshold beneath which deductions may not be taken from earnings by arrestment.

Although members are invited to note the instrument, they will be aware that we have received representation. Therefore, I am minded to write to the Government to request that, although we recognise that, by changing some of the thresholds, the instrument eases the current economic situation that is faced by many, perhaps more could be done in future years. I will write to the Government if members are happy for me to do so.

I also note that the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recently carried out an inquiry into such matters. Therefore, the Government is aware that the Parliament has an interest in them.

Are members content to note the instrument and to agree that a letter along those lines should be sent?

Members indicated agreement.

Jamie Halcro Johnston has a brief supplementary, and then I will bring in Colin Smyth.

Our next item of business is the second evidence session of our inquiry into a just transition for the Grangemouth area.

Industry is the second-highest carbon-emitting sector in Scotland, after transport. There is currently a target for Scotland to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, and Grangemouth has a significant role to play in achieving that. The committee wishes to look at how we can support, incentivise and de-risk that transition, first of all in the Grangemouth area, to benefit companies and individuals. Today’s session will focus on the current workforce in Grangemouth and the skills that are needed to facilitate a just transition.

I welcome Cliff Bowen, executive councillor, and Pat Rafferty, regional secretary, from Unite the union; Gordon McGuinness, director of industry and networks, and Ronnie Palin, regional skills planning lead for central Scotland, from Skills Development Scotland; and Dominic Pritchard, national organiser for the GMB union.

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

Prior to questions, I invite members to recognise my voluntary registration of Unite membership. Does anybody else wish to declare an interest?

Ms Hyslop has a similar line of questioning.