Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-26856

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to allocating £80 million on carbon capture, utilisation and storage, in light of no provision being made in the Budget for 2024-25.

Our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund supports the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies and has been offered to support the Scottish Cluster Carbon Capture Project accelerate its effort to help Scotland’s just transition to net zero. We remain committed to supporting this development.

Due to UK Government still not confirming the award of the Acorn Project and also which emitter sites will form the Scottish Cluster, it has not yet been possible to deploy this funding support. Only when we, the Acorn Project and the Scottish Cluster are provided with a final decision will it be possible to assess how we can utilise this funding to best support the deployment of CCUS.

Question reference: S6T-01932

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what potential impact the proposed Berwick Bank offshore windfarm not being included in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 6 will have on achieving Scotland’s climate targets.

Question reference: S6W-26695

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of working hours was spent on processing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) scoping request under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.

The processing of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) scoping request under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 involves work across a number of teams within the Energy Consents Unit.

We do not centrally log or track the specific number of working hours spent by individual team members on any particular activity or task. The work is integrated into the broader responsibilities and workflows of the team. It is therefore not possible to calculate the average number of working hours spent processing in the years requested.

Question reference: S6W-26696

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of working hours was spent on processing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) request for screening under section 8 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.

The processing of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) screening request under section 8 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 involves work across a number of teams within the Energy Consents Unit.

We do not centrally log or track the specific number of working hours spent by individual team members on any particular activity or task. The work is integrated into the broader responsibilities and workflows of the team. It is therefore not possible to calculate the average number of working hours spent processing in the years requested.

Question reference: S6W-26464

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19781 by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2023, whether it still plans to publish an update to its Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan.

Question reference: S6W-26463

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards the commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.

Achieving the commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30 by 30 commitment) is a key component in our ambition to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and substantially restore it by 2045. The target has already been achieved at sea with the suite of Marine Protected Areas. On land, our existing protected areas cover 18.2% of Scotland. It is envisaged that the 30 by 30 commitment will be achieved on land by improving the condition of existing, as well as creating new, protected areas, alongside developing a network of ‘Other Effective [area-based] Conservation Measures’ (OECMs).

Our 2023 consultation on Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity included a draft policy framework on our 30 by 30 commitment, which was co-designed with over 100 organisations and individuals representing a diverse range of interests. We are considering responses from that consultation, which will inform the final framework to be published later this year.

A further consultation, to gather views on whether the legislative framework for our current protected areas needs to be strengthened, was launched on 3 April and will run until 24 May 2024. It can be accessed at: https://consult.gov.scot/environment-forestry/meeting-our-30-by-30-commitment-a-consultation/ . This will inform any requirements within the Natural Environment Bill.

A stakeholder group convened by NatureScot will help develop the OECM criteria which sites must meet to be considered within the ‘30 by 30’ network. This work is being carried out in parallel, and in discussion with, the other UK administrations to ensure a degree of consistency of approach.

Question reference: S6W-26465

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects to publish the results of its consultation on Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity.

A 14 week consultation on Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity closed on 14 December 2023. We received over 600 responses - approximately 30% of these were from organisations and 70% were from individuals. We are very grateful for the time and effort stakeholders have taken to provide responses to what was a very substantial consultation on the key elements of our approach to tackling the nature crisis. We are working through the analysis and will continue to engage with our stakeholders, on the final publication of the strategy and delivery plan. These will be published later this year alongside the consultation analysis report and Scottish Government’s response to it.

Question reference: S6O-03302

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in implementing its Diabetes Improvement Plan.

Question reference: S6W-26369

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the creation of an offshore training and skills passport.

Through its Just Transition Fund, t he Scottish Government has supported industry-led development of a practical Skills Passport that works for the different offshore energy industry sectors, recognising the cross-sector skills of workers, and the importance of supporting a fair and managed transition.

We understand that the key industry bodies leading on the Passport's delivery intend to make a statement in relation to next steps on the project shortly . We will have a clearer understanding of when we can look forward to an initial version of the Passport being available for workers to access after this announcement.

Question reference: S6W-26037

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing targets for public sector organisations to make their buildings energy efficient.

Our consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill, which closed on 8 March, asked how we can help our public sector buildings to lead the way on heat decarbonisation, by requiring all public sector buildings to be using clean heating systems by 2038. We will now analyse the responses to determine the best course of action.

Any energy efficiency standard for non-domestic buildings, including public buildings, would need to carefully consider how to take account of the wide variety in size, construction and functionality.

Chamber and committees