Chamber and committees

I will direct a question to Paul White, based on the line of questioning that we have just heard from Monica Lennon. The CPT submission talks about the need for bus services to receive on-going funding, absent which operators will need to make some difficult decisions on, for example, fares, routes and frequency. The committee is carrying out an inquiry into local authorities’ ability to support the measures to achieve net zero, and we know that significant cuts to local authority budgets are coming. Noting that, is there sufficient recognition in NPF4 or more widely of what central Government needs to do to prevent the negative impacts that you mention in your submission?

To go back a stage, you talked about moving funds to support the green agenda. My question is related to the question that my friend Mark Ruskell asked earlier. More generally, how do you measure or project what the prospects of achievement for each project will be and whether the funding will be sufficient to deliver that? Similarly, how do you measure or project the opportunity cost of the reduction in investment elsewhere?

I cannot see whether anyone else wants to respond, so I will pose another question.

Dr Kerr referred earlier to the expectation that industrial developments with waste or surplus heat will be co-located with areas of demand. As we know, a significant proportion of demand will be for domestic heat. How do we strike a balance between using sources of low-carbon heat and building houses where people actually want to live?

Thinking about your last answer, I wonder whether that issue has been addressed anywhere else. What I am hearing from you—and, indeed, what we have seen in the submission from Scottish Renewables—is a feeling that this framework has been drafted somewhat in isolation. Is there anything else that we need to be aware of in this particular space?

In your opening remarks, you mentioned the allocation of £20 million to the just transition fund. What or who precisely is that paying for or going to? What are the measurable year 1 outcomes of that £20 million?

The committee would be grateful for that information.

Natalie Don asked good questions about the lack of progress on a circular economy. In your answers, you mentioned an intended circular economy bill. I think that that was first proposed in 2019 and was restated in the 2021 programme for government. Will you give the committee an update on when we can expect to see the circular economy bill?

Thank you.

I will direct two questions to Dr Kerr but, if anyone else wants to come in after he has answered, they should just indicate that.

Dr Kerr talked about heat networks and policy 11. That policy appears to prioritise heat networks—or what people might know as domestic heating—over other technologies. There is a presumption against domestic biomass where heat networks are available. Does that strike the right balance between heating technologies and site-specific solutions? Does it sufficiently recognise other solutions for heating that might be more financially viable or, indeed, practical?

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I have several quick questions about data and measurement. How do you measure how far towards the 2030 climate goals the spending decisions in the 2022-23 budget will take Scotland?

I want to pick up on something that the cabinet secretary said earlier when he was asked about the heat in buildings strategy and the figure of £1.8 billion by 2026. The capital spending review states that the Government will invest £1.6 billion to decarbonise heat in buildings. Why is there that difference? In any event, which portfolios will get the money? Can the committee have a detailed breakdown of the proposed spending profile to 2026?

I am not sure that that answers my question, minister, because there will obviously be a scheme cost to the public purse to set it up. Perhaps you can come back on that if you are aware of such costs and they have been sorted out.

Secondly, has the Government strategised any scheme to allow smaller businesses to attract and retain customers in a similar manner to the big supermarkets, which presumably can incentivise customers through their loyalty schemes?