Chamber and committees

As stated in the previous answer to S6W-13831 on 26 January 2023 this work is in its early stages. Initial meetings were held in December 2022.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The current average daily demand for electricity in Scotland (a 12-month rolling average figure, for the 12 months ending November 2022) is 70.4 GWh. This data is from National Grid Electricity System Operator’s data explorer and is published on Scottish Energy Statistics hub here: Scottish Energy Statistics Hub (shinyapps.io) . This is an average figure, within a minimum-maximum range (for the same period) of between 45-100 GWh.

There are no projections available on the daily demand for electricity in 2030.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan set out a series of actions, including the development of a refreshed Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan by the end of 2023.

Alongside this, as part of the ScotWind leasing round, developers were required to complete a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS). The SCDS outlines the supply chain activity that each project is committing to undertake within Scotland, the UK and overseas. These commitments amount to billions of pounds of investment in the Scottish supply chain and economy, with initial projections showing an average spend of £1.4bn across each of the 20 ScotWind projects.

Our Enterprise Agencies, including Scottish Development International, are engaged with a number of leading businesses that have the products, technology, skills and know-how to support robust supply chain development. We are encouraging developers to work with our Agencies and partners to identify how best to support and anticipate business needs as well as operational challenges to delivery of these projects.

We are already starting to see examples of companies establishing Operations and Maintenance (O&M) bases for their offshore wind farms in Scotland. In addition to the vast potential opened up by ScotWind, the Neart na Gaoithe O&M base was officially opened by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport on 25 January. This base will bring up to 50 high quality jobs to the Eyemouth area for the 25-year lifespan of the wind farm. The base is also large enough to handle potential staff expansion in summer months when the weather is calmer and maintenance can be increased.

There have been five flights out of Prestwick since 2013:

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced a discretionary power for local authorities to implement workplace parking licencing (WPL) schemes. It will be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances.

To date, no local authorities have implemented a WPL scheme and therefore no revenue has been collected under a WPL scheme.

The Workplace Parking Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2022 require local authorities to notify Scottish Ministers when publishing notification of a scheme proposal. There is no requirement for local authorities to register their interest in introducing a WPL scheme with Scottish Ministers before they have formally published a scheme proposal (such as during initial scoping or exploration of a scheme).

While no notifications of scheme proposals have yet been received, I am aware that local authorities may be considering how best to use the new powers. For example, the City of Edinburgh Council has included plans to take forward a WPL scheme as part of its published City Mobility Plan 2021-2030 and are continuing to scope such a scheme. I am also aware that WPL is under consideration in Glasgow as part of their Local Transport Strategy policy framework.

Workforce planning for the next phase of the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is ongoing and therefore we are at present unable to provide a comprehensive overview of recruitment for 2023.

Delivery of this Government’s climate change initiatives, including our updated Climate Change Plan, Climate Change Adaptation Programme and emerging Just Transition Plans, is integrated into the work of teams right across the Scottish Government, our agencies and public bodies.

Workforce planning for the year is ongoing and we are not in a position to provide a definitive forecast for 2023.

All Ministerial engagements, including visits to police stations, fire stations, courts and prisons, is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

Since May 2016, the Scottish Government has maintained a public record of all ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received. This includes meeting dates and attendees.

The Member for North East Scotland can find this information online at www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts .

The research in question was based on archetypes rather than individual properties. As such, it is not possible to precisely identify the location of the 170,000 off-gas-grid households and the 40,000 households directly from the data outputs.

Before introducing any legislation for a minimum energy efficiency standard and prohibition on the use of direct emissions heating systems in homes, we will publish an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) and Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) which will consider the impacts of our proposals on rural and island communities.