Chamber and committees

Thank you. As I said, I was not expecting you to have all the figures at your fingertips. If you have figures, I would be grateful if you could provide us with a bit of detail after the meeting—on heat pump installers, in particular, and on the other categories that the Scottish Renewables submission mentions.

My second question is for Richard McClelland. Unite Scotland has talked about the

“implementation of an Offshore Training Passport which will allow workers to move freely between offshore and onshore energy sectors”.

I do not know which training or certification bodies we would be talking about, exactly. You might be more knowledgeable about that. Is such a passport feasible? If so, what would be the process for achieving it and how long would it take?

No, thank you, convener.

I will continue on from what Fiona Hyslop said about awareness and the need for alignment of our skills training. I have a question for Chris Brodie. I do not know whether you had a chance to look at any of the other submissions, but Scottish Renewables highlights 14 skill-set categories for which there will be increased demand and potential shortages.

I am not expecting you to have exact numbers at your fingertips, but can you give us some understanding of your confidence in the figures that you work with? On heat pump installers, for example, do you have a number for that particular skill and can you describe how you would reach it, both in relation to assessment and delivery? Also, do you hold any information on the geographical spread of the figures?

Okay. Thank you for that. Do other members of the panel have views on Unite’s suggestion?

That very much builds on what John Ferguson was saying. As you are a supplier in a sector that is committed to net zero production, do you feel that you get enough support from the tier 1 companies that you supply to?

I appreciate that. Does David Ovens have anything to add?

Carbon auditing is a developing field. You all clearly run successful businesses and understand the importance of measuring to manage. How have you gone about measuring your carbon footprint? What difficulties to do you see and what suggestions do you have to improve the situation? I know that we are limited by time, so that question is for John Ferguson, Jo Chidley and Murray Whittaker.

I note my registered interest as a house builder.

I want to build on Michelle Thomson’s point about risk appetite. Green mortgages were first offered over a decade ago—I think that they were linked to the “Code for Sustainable Homes”. They disappeared, but are now making a tentative reappearance. It should be logical to assume that a homeowner who spends less on energy is a lesser credit risk, which should be reflected in their mortgage terms. Why is that not fully reflected in the mortgage market? What are the stumbling blocks in conversations in your credit teams? At the risk of this being a leading question, I ask this: is the credibility of the energy performance certificate system a stumbling block? Would one solution be to improve the loan-to-value regulation that is imposed by the Government on banks for energy-efficient homes or accredited businesses?

Thank you; that is very informative.

The north lot of the reaching 100 per cent programme is finally available for constituents to look at, and it is disappointing that the initial feedback has not been positive. There are still errors, which occurred with the previous lots, such as people being told that they are connected when they are not. Many people are saying that the dates that they have been given, such as 2026, are not particularly satisfactory and that the contributions through the voucher schemes are insufficient, especially when some people have been quoted costs of near £100,000 for a group of houses to be connected. That means that people will be unable to develop businesses and in some cases are considering moving away.

How many will be connected via the north lot? What is the review process for the initial roll-out that has been announced? Most important, where should we direct constituents to go to ask their questions and point out errors?