Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is introducing the New Build Heat Standard from 2024 in direct response to the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change on how to meet the net zero legal obligations legislated for by the Scottish Parliament.

Within the 2019 UK housing: Fit for the future? publication, the Committee on Climate Change recommended that “from 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. They should instead be heated through low carbon sources”. A copy of this report can be found here: UK housing: Fit for the future? - Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)

In a subsequent letter to the UK Government , the CCC recommended that: “The full definition of the Future Homes Standard should be set now and legislated ahead of 2024 to give market certainty. Waiting until 2024 to legislate is likely to drive up compliance costs in the long run, given the history of the cancelled Zero Carbon Homes policy which left many investments stranded and weakened industry confidence. We also urge you to consider bringing forward the 2025 introduction date - we note that Scotland are due to introduce equivalent standards a year earlier.”

We initially announced our intention to regulate new build heating systems in September 2019, five years in advance of the regulations coming into force, and we are actively working with the construction sector to inform the development of these new regulations – including through establishment of an external working group, membership of which includes trade bodies representing Scottish and UK house builders.

That five year prior notification has given the construction sector significant time in which to plan for these new regulations coming into force. It is longer than the three year duration of a building warrant - meaning that no builder could have pre-ordered fossil fuel heating for an active or planned building warrant without being aware of the proposed prohibition on fossil fuel heating systems in new buildings applying from 2024.

All NHS Scotland Boards are providing assessment and support for people with long COVID. This is being delivered across the full range of services delivered by our NHS and includes local primary care teams, community based rehabilitation services and referrals for further investigation delivered in secondary care settings where clinically appropriate.

It is for each NHS Board to develop and deliver the best models of care for assessment, diagnostic tests, and support for the treatment or management of symptoms, tailored to the needs of their local population. This will involve strengthening the co-ordination of existing services, or establishing dedicated services where appropriate.

To support this, we are investing an initial £3 million from our long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to provide NHS Boards and partners with additional resource to respond to the needs of people with long COVID in their areas. While none of the services being delivered by NHS Scotland Boards are termed ‘long COVID clinics’, initiatives being supported by the funding include key elements of care that is also offered by post COVID assessment clinics elsewhere in the UK; such as the introduction of care co-ordinator roles to provide a single point of contact for people with long COVID and their families and the introduction of a multi-disciplinary assessment service to provide a person-centred assessment of people’s needs.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care has recently established an expert panel to provide advice to the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) on which patient cohorts should be eligible for access to COVID-19 treatments, including whether changes should be made to which patient cohorts are currently eligible for direct access to antivirals to reduce the risk of hospitalisation. More information about the Therapeutics Clinical Review Panel, including how to submit an enquiry to the panel can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/covid-19-therapeutics-clinical-review-panel .

The original eligibility criteria were developed - using an evidence-based approach - by an independent expert working group commissioned by the UK Department of Health and Social Care. The current criteria are set out in a UK-wide clinical commissioning policy . The policy targets those higher risk individuals who have the potential to both be least likely to generate a material immune response to vaccines and be at highest risk of disease progression, hospitalisation and death.

COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments are also being evaluated through a study called PANORAMIC, run by the University of Oxford. The study is testing whether these antiviral treatments may benefit a wider group of patients than the current eligibility criteria. The results from the first part of the study are due to be published later this year.

General information on the arrangements for direct access to COVID-19 treatments in Scotland can be found on NHS Inform .

The Scottish Government previously provided a response advising where the £12 million to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was allocated and what was spent. https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-08799

A breakdown of the funding provided by the Scottish Government for each service is as follows;

In the financial year 2021/22, £12 million was allocated to support the wellbeing of people working in health and social care of which £11.5 million was spent. We allocated £1,145,895 to the Workforce Specialist Service to deliver psychological and psychiatric support to regulated practitioners who provide care to others. £921,029 was allocated on formal psychological interventions that formed the Workforce Development Programme and £366,650 was allocated to the NES Coaching for Wellbeing service. To ensure staff have access to support when they need it, £138,666 was allocated to the National Wellbeing Helpline and £175,142 on the National Wellbeing Hub.

The Workforce Wellbeing fund was set up to support staff who work in adult social work and social care. This fund has been managed outwith the Scottish Government by Inspiring Scotland and the total allocated on this wellbeing initiative was £1,100,000. In addition, £12,332 was allocated to Programme Support and £93,525 in further wellbeing services which include CRUSE Grief and Loss Counselling, Elite Training, Awesome Postcards and a workforce respect marketing campaign. A total of £7,561,432 was directly allocated to Boards and HSCPs. This money was to be spent on, but not limited to, spiritual care, psychological first aid, catering and rest facilities to further support the wellbeing of the workforce.

We continue to work with boards and stakeholders to evaluate the impact of funding and how it meets the needs of the workforce.

Scotland’s energy sector is at the forefront of our transformation to becoming a net zero nation. It is a major employer and source of economic output, and our oil and gas infrastructure and highly skilled workforce have long been at the forefront of energy innovation - which is why it is well-placed to embrace the transformation that lies ahead.

We are already investing in the oil and gas sector’s net zero transformation. Our expanded £75 million Energy Transition Fund which is supporting the energy sector to grow and diversify, whilst helping to attract further private investment; and our £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray will support the North East and Moray to become one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy . The opportunities of offshore wind are also considerable. Applicants to the recent ScotWind leasing round were required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement, outlining the supply chain activity they commit to undertaking within Scotland, the UK and overseas. The full Supply Chain Development Statement Outlooks for all successful applicants were published by Crown Estate Scotland in April 2022, and the initial projections show an average spend of £1.5bn in Scotland across each of the 17 ScotWind projects. This week Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind clearing process offered seabed agreements to a further three projects off the east coast of Shetland bringing the total number of ScotWind projects to 20 totaling 27.8GW.

Our £75 million Energy Transition Fund is focused on acceleration the energy sector’s transition to net zero-emissions whilst helping to attract further private investment, £26 million of which has been allocated to develop the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) in Aberdeen. ETZ is expected to directly support 2,500 green jobs by 2030, alongside a further 10,000 transition-related jobs. Our £500 million Just Transition Fund - which we have called on the UK Government multiple times to match - will also support the north east and Moray become one of Scotland's centres of excellence for the transition to a net economy, with our investment supporting transformation across the region.

The Scottish Government is providing support to encourage investment in renewables in the north east through a number of funds and programmes. These include, but are not limited to, the £500 million Just Transition Fund for North East and Moray which opened on 31 May. Bids to the first year’s allocation of £20 million are currently being assessed. The Just Transition Fund complements other Scottish Government commitments to the sector in the North East – such as our £125m City Region Deal investment, including £90m for the Net Zero Technology Centre and the £75m Energy Transition Fund (ETF).The ETF will protect existing jobs and create new jobs in the North East, and across Scotland by opening up opportunities through energy transition and harnessing private sector funding. As an example, our investment of £26.3m in the Energy Transition Zone is helping to unlock a further £64m in private investment for the first phase. The Net Zero Technology Transition Programme delivered by the Net Zero Technology Centre has also leveraged match funding of £17m from industry for phases 1&2 as a direct result of our £17m investment in the programme.

The draft Hydrogen Action Plan committed £100 million hydrogen funding for 2022-2026 through the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF). This is a Scotland-wide fund to support Hydrogen, CCUS and the development of negative emissions technologies. In June 2022, we launched the first tranche of the EETF via the £10 million Hydrogen Innovation Scheme. The remaining £90 million hydrogen investment programme is expected to launch in Autumn 2022 and will focus on supporting rapid renewable hydrogen production from Scotland’s abundant renewable energy resources.

Scotland’s natural resources, which include strong and consistent wind resource, along with our established expertise in offshore oil and gas, skilled offshore workforce, excellent port structure and strong innovation hub, make Scotland one of the best places in the world to develop offshore wind and reap the supply chain benefits from private sector investment. The recent ScotWind leasing round demonstrates this, by delivering around £700 million in option fee revenues to the public purse, plus the ScotWind projects committed to investment of up to £25 billion across the Scottish supply chain across the 17 Scotwind offshore wind projects as set out in their Supply Chain Development Statements

The Scottish Fiscal Commission published its latest set of benefit forecasts in May 2022 where they estimated, based on outturn information, that in 2020-21 there were around 103,000 people in receipt of Adult Disability Living Allowance in Scotland, forecasting that in 2021-22 there could be around 95,000 people.

The Scottish Government published an update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan in 2020, including over 200 policies and proposals which will drive our delivery of emissions reduction between 2020 and 2032.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing the next climate change plan which covers the period from 2025 to 2040. The Scottish Government has committed to fully costing the next Climate Change Plan as set out in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019.

Our focus now is on delivering the existing plan as well as the polices that have been developed since to achieve our climate objectives. The challenging nature of delivering these targets will depend on a national endeavour, with action from all sectors of society. The updated plan sends a clear market signal which should give businesses the confidence to act, invest and achieve our climate targets, driving new green jobs, growing a thriving sustainable and fair economy.

All these actions require co-operation from the UK Government to maximise action in reserved actions. Our updated Plan set out the main asks of the UK Government and calls on them to match Scotland’s climate ambition in a credible way. As we develop our next plan and the vision for 2040, we will be required to go further and require reductions in currently reserved areas to achieve the 90% reduction by 2040.

The Scottish Government supports the principles underpinning the green taxonomy, especially the need to establish criteria for sustainable economic activity, to give investors certainty on the sustainability of projects, and to combat greenwashing, and we look forward to continuing to work internationally with our partners in the European Union and its Member States to combat climate change.

The Scottish Government position on nuclear power is clear – we do not support the building of new nuclear power stations in Scotland under current technologies. Given that new nuclear power will take years, if not decades, to become operational and will be expensive, we do not believe classifying nuclear as sustainable or transitional should be our focus.

The best pathway to net zero is through increased investment in renewables, storage, hydrogen and carbon capture. Concentrating growth in these technologies is better for both energy security and the climate. As the UK taxonomy is a reserved matter, we are working with UK government to ensure the forthcoming UK taxonomy reflects the level of climate ambition the Scottish Government has set. We will be publishing our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan later this year, including energy scenarios that will set out how Scotland can achieve our climate targets and meets our energy needs in a sustainable manner by 2050, and will provide a long term basis for investment in energy generation in Scotland.

We need bold action to tackle the climate emergency and Scotland has some of the most extensive renewable generation capabilities in Europe with which to accelerate our just transition to net zero.

We do not believe that Scotland can achieve our 2030 decarbonisation targets without a substantial increase in onshore and offshore wind deployment.

In October 2020, Scottish Government published our Offshore Wind Policy Statement, setting out our ambitions for offshore wind in Scotland in the context of our commitment to achieve net zero by 2045. The Offshore Wind Policy Statement sets a new ambition to achieve 8-11 GW of offshore wind in Scotland by 2030. This recognises that deployment must increase significantly if we are to meet our climate change targets.

The Onshore Wind Policy Statement consultation was launched on 28 October 2021, which includes our ambition that an additional 8-12 GW of onshore wind be installed by 2030, in line with the Climate Change Committees' recommendations.

As of June 2022, there were 8.7GW of installed, operational onshore wind in Scotland, comprising approximately 3,940 turbines, and 1.86GW of installed, operational offshore wind in Scotland, comprising of 264 turbines.

Our recent ScotWind announcement includes 25GW of generating capacity of offshore wind [note: this figure was correct at July 2022], which is a massive vote of confidence in Scotland’s potential. The planning and consenting processes that lie ahead – together with the need to fully consider the views of stakeholders about impact – means it is not possible to know now exactly what scale of development will be permitted ultimately. However, we are seeking to maximise the opportunities from ScotWind, for energy, the environment, the economy and our supply chain, albeit in a way that aligns with the marine planning framework.

There are many variable factors, including advancements in turbine technology (i.e. larger turbines that produce more electricity), environmental considerations and landscape considerations, which make it difficult to determine precisely how may turbines will make up the estimated 8-12GW of onshore wind and 8 – 11GW of offshore wind required to meet our net-zero targets.