Chamber and committees

An overall appraisal of the economic impacts associated with the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund has not been undertaken yet as many of the associated projects are still underway.

<>Very limited demand to date has emerged from the emerging offshore wind industry for new port or near-port manufacturing locations in Europe or the UK. No new port or near port manufacturing locations have been developed in Scotland where to date it has been possible to accommodate all demand from the offshore wind industry in a small number of existing and underutilised facilities.

The Scottish Government provides a range of funding to initiate and support renewable energy projects, to encourage technology development, and to stimulate private sector investment. For example, we have made over £50 million available for community and locally owned projects in 2015-16 under our Renewable Energy Investment Fund and Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, which has helped to unlock significant private sector investment and helped us achieve, five years early, our target for 500 megawatts of community and locally owned renewable energy to be installed by 2020.

The Scottish Government’s approach has been underpinned, until recently, by a stable UK-wide support regime for renewables. However, recent cuts to revenue support schemes including the Renewables Obligation and feed-in tariffs have created uncertainty for the sector, damaged investor confidence, and put at risk Scotland’s ability to achieve its renewable energy ambitions.

Scottish Renewables has estimated that Scotland’s renewable energy sector delivered around £1.04 billion of capital investment in 2014. Further information is available on the Scottish Renewables website at the following link: https://www.scottishrenewables.com/sectors/renewables-in-numbers/.

Figures published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in April 2014 show that since 2010 the renewables industry has announced around £14.2 billion worth of investment in Scotland. Further information is available on the DECC website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-investment-report-april-2014.

The Scottish Government has awarded the following research contracts relating to unconventional oil and gas:

‘Understanding and monitoring induced seismic activity’ will be undertaken by The British Geological Survey. The value for this work is £41,994.

‘Decommissioning, site restoration and aftercare – Obligations and treatment of financial liabilities’ will be undertaken by AECOM. The value for this work is £51,102.

‘Climate change impacts’ will be undertaken by the Committee on Climate Change. The value for this work is £61,980.

‘Economic impacts and scenario development’ will be undertaken by KPMG. The value for this work is £103,176.

These projects are due to be completed in summer 2016.

The Scottish Government will provide up to £75,000 to cover the additional costs incurred by Health Protection Scotland in delivering a Public Health Impact Assessment.

<>The Draft Budget for 2015-16 sets out the level of private sector investment in the non-profit distributing pipeline, including projects being taken forward through the hub programme.

Information on Modern Apprenticeships in the energy and low carbon sector is not held centrally. I will ask the Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland to write to you with the information requested.

Skills Development Scotland publish quarterly performance information on Modern Apprenticeships, including breakdowns by framework followed and by framework grouping. The most recent statistics for quarter 3 2015-16 (to end December 2015) can be found at:

https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/.

The UK Government’s decision to access the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) will result in no Barnett consequentials as the EUSF would provide money that would be out of scope of Barnett. Scottish costs were included in the application which the UK Government announced on 25 February 2016 would be submitted to the European Commission. The commission is now considering the application which can take a number of months to be processed.

The total number of basic payments made to farmers and crofters by Wednesday 24 February 2016 was 8,846 (49%).

The Scottish Government has agreed to send regular updates on progress to the Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee.

The material that local authorities send to landfill will attract landfill tax, including any disposals arising from the recent flooding events. The Scottish Government has provided a £16 million aid package in response to the flooding, principally providing grants to individuals and businesses but also supporting councils with reparation costs, which might include Scottish landfill tax liabilities.

The Scottish Government currently has no estimate on the quantity of waste material produced, and amount that will be landfilled as a result of the recent flooding events. We will be monitoring the situation closely.