Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-03408

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills has made of an initial and transferable skills strategy for meeting the net zero greenhouse gas emissions target.

Question reference: S5O-03392

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its response is to the call by Just Transition for the divestment of its pension scheme from fossil fuels.

Question reference: S5O-03358

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to move freight off roads and onto rail, in light of it declaring a climate emergency.

Question reference: S5W-23282

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will require its departments and agencies to become exemplars in taking measures to make a positive and progressively larger contribution to addressing the climate emergency declared by the First Minister and to report accordingly.

There is a global climate emergency and the IPCC’s Special Report made clear that everyone, including public bodies need to act now if our targets are to be met. Public bodies have a key role in delivering on the increased ambition through their climate change duties. The Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting mechanism provides a basis for tracking public sector action on climate change and driving continuous improvement. A review of the reporting duty is already underway in conjunction with public sector representatives. We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. Over the summer we will engage the public, communities, businesses, industry, and the public sector in a discussion about what more can be done.

Question reference: S5W-23284

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) when and (b) how it proposes to report to the Parliament on its expectations for actions, the performance achieved on any actions and by whom such actions should be taken to address the climate emergency declared by the First Minister.

There is a global climate emergency, and we are acting accordingly. Our current Climate Change Plan, which was published in February 2018, sets out on the ground delivery measures being taken to reduce emissions for each sector of Scotland’s economy for every year to 2032 and we have committed to updating the Plan within 6 months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent.

We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. Over the summer we will engage the public, communities, businesses, industry, and the public sector in a discussion about what more can be done.

The Climate Change Bill proposes that statutory sector by sector monitoring reports are laid before the Scottish Parliament on an annual basis. These reports will provide an assessment of progress on implementing the policies within the Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S5W-23280

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether private sector organisations that supply goods and services to the public sector will be required to demonstrate, as a contract condition, that their policies and actions will support making a positive and progressively larger contribution to addressing the climate emergency declared by the First Minister.

The Scottish Government already has a track record of addressing climate change through it procurement activity. We are required to consider and act on opportunities to achieve environmental benefits in our contracts.

Our sustainable procurement tools, available to all public bodies, include indicators and guidance to support Scottish public sector buyers to consider and act on a number of climate change considerations, including carbon in production, carbon and energy consumption, climate change adaptation and vehicle emissions where they can be relevant to that particular procurement exercise.

Examples of where benefits are already being seen include the Scottish Government’s IT frameworks and stationery contract.

We are an internationally recognised leader in the field of procurement of sustainable IT products and ensure that only the most energy efficient devices are available via our Frameworks. These products also minimise environmental impact across their lifecycle as they are manufactured to conserve energy, minimise the use of environmentally sensitive materials, and increase recyclability. For example, over their lifetime, products purchased in 2017 will save 58,000,000 kWh of electricity and 9,400 metric tonnes of CO2.

The stationery contract has saved public bodies 75,000,000 kWh of electricity and 6,200 tonnes of CO2, and the public bodies’ carbon footprint has been reduced by over 5,700 tonnes.

We will continue to use procurement to encourage private and third sectors suppliers to make a positive contribution to addressing climate change. Due to the variety in value and nature of our procurements the best route for achieving a positive contribution to addressing climate change will be defined on a case by case basis.

Question reference: S5W-23276

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether all parts of the public sector will have a responsibility to consider what practical actions they can take to make a positive and progressively larger contribution to addressing the climate emergency declared by the First Minister.

There is a global climate emergency and the IPCC’s Special Report made clear that everyone, including public bodies need to act now if our targets are to be met. Public bodies have a key role in delivering on the increased ambition through their climate change duties. The Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting mechanism provides a basis for tracking public sector action on climate change and driving continuous improvement. A review of the reporting duty is already underway in conjunction with public sector representatives. We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. Over the summer we will engage the public, communities, businesses, industry, and the public sector in a discussion about what more can be done.

Question reference: S5W-23278

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects existing public policies, objectives and targets will have to be reviewed and make a positive and progressively larger contribution to addressing the climate emergency declared by the First Minister.

There is a global climate emergency, and we are acting accordingly. Our first step has been to immediately lodge amendments to our Climate Change Bill targets. We have committed to updating the Climate Change Plan within 6 months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent. We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. This will include engaging with the public sector over the summer to discuss what more can be done.

Question reference: S5W-23277

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether new policies, strategies, objectives and targets under development by (a) agencies accountable to it and (b) civil servants will be assessed prior to approval and implementation to ensure that they will make a positive and progressively larger contribution to addressing the climate emergency declared by the First Minister.

The development of new policies are subject, where appropriate, to a range of impact assessments such as strategic environmental assessment, equalities impact assessment, business and regulatory impact assessment, children's rights and wellbeing impact assessment and socio-economic assessment. The process of developing new polices will take into consideration which impact assessments are appropriate e.g. the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 ensures that those preparing qualifying Scottish plans and programmes that are likely to have significant environmental effects, including those effects relating to climatic factors, are assessed and opportunities to avoid, reduce or mitigate adverse effects are identified and considered.

Question reference: S5W-23283

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications are of the declaration of a climate emergency for the work of organisations that are responsible for the auditing, regulation, monitoring or inspection of public sector organisations.

There is a global climate emergency and the IPCC’s Special Report made clear that everyone, including public bodies need to act now if our targets are to be met. Public bodies have a key role in delivering on the increased ambition through their climate change duties. The Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting mechanism provides a basis for tracking public sector action on climate change and driving continuous improvement. A review of the reporting duty is already underway in conjunction with public sector representatives. We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. Over the summer we will engage the public, communities, businesses, industry, and the public sector in a discussion about what more can be done.

Chamber and committees