Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government commissioned independent research into the state of the steel sector in Scotland from the University of Warwick. This report is available to read online and can be found here .

Decommissioning at Scottish ports should be undertaken in line with the principles of a circular economy and promote the reuse of materials over recycling and disposal. A circular approach has the potential to reduce the energy intensity and emissions from decommissioning structures, create new jobs and business opportunities, and provide cost savings for manufacturing processes that use decommissioned material.

We would encourage any company interested in developing a major project in Scotland, such as a steel mill, to engage early with the Scottish Government and our Enterprise Agencies.

The comment quoted relates to the scale of Scotland’s electricity generation ambition, and uses the comparison to current energy demand to illustrate that scale.

As set out in the draft ESJTP, in 2030, Scottish energy demand that is not met from domestic renewable electricity generation could be met by other sources including by energy storage, fossil fuels, or hydrogen. This will represent a reduction in the use of fossil fuels and an increase in renewables from 2020 levels, when 26.7% of total Scottish energy consumption came from renewable sources.

It is the Scottish Government’s ambition to deliver at least 20 GW of additional renewable electricity generation by 2030, the majority of which will be provided by onshore and offshore wind. The around 50% figure relates to the inclusion of this additional 20 GW of renewable generation, and represents the proportion of the current annual total energy demand of Scotland that may met by renewable electricity.

This percentage will fluctuate through the days and months of generation, due to the intermittent nature of these renewable generation technologies. It is anticipated that at times renewable technologies will generate a volume of electricity equivalent to more than 100% of Scotland’s demand, allowing export opportunities for the excess electricity, and at times they will generate a volume of electricity equivalent to less than 50% of Scotland’s demand.

The net zero skills gap and sector analysis research is being undertaken in relation to the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. This work is in its early stages and the contract of £80,000 was awarded to Aquetera Ltd.

As set out in our recent draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan the Scottish Government’s position on traditional nuclear energy has not and will not change.

Given our long-standing position on nuclear, any such analysis would not be value for money and has not been pursued. Recent examples of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell clearly demonstrate that nuclear is considerably more expensive than renewables, which is why our position is to focus on renewables, coupled with storage and flexibility options.

2020 was designated Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, a year that would spotlight, celebrate and promote opportunities to experience and enjoy Scotland’s unrivalled coasts and waters, encouraging responsible engagement and participation. The visitor opportunity in terms of experiences and events was broadly presented across four cross cutting strands:

1. Our Natural Environment and Wildlife

2. Our Historic Environment and Cultural Heritage

3. Activities and Adventure

4. Food and Drink

Originally scheduled for 2020, as a result of the COVID pandemic, and following discussion with the events and tourism industry, Scottish Ministers agreed to extend the year into 2021.

Analysis of Outcomes

Despite the impact of COVID, the Year of Coasts and Waters exceeded the targets set by the external Steering Group, delivering activity in communities across Scotland and playing an important part in the recovery of the events, tourism and associated sectors.

VisitScotland will shortly provide an evaluation of the year, which will be available on www.visitscotland.org . Initial findings from the year report success against the five agreed key objectives for a Themed Year: Promotion, Celebration, Participation, Collaboration and Industry Engagement.

Headline outcomes include:

• Promotion : the award-winning PR campaign achieved at least 3,662 pieces of media coverage generating a world-wide media reach of circa 3.7 billion whilst the marketing campaigns reached 196.4 million.
• Celebration: 110 events were delivered across the funded and (non-funded) partner events programmes. All 32 local authorities hosted activity and all events were delivered safely within the relevant COVID guidance.
• Participation: almost 1.1 million attendances were recorded across the 28 funded events. This included 702,000 in-person attendances and 389,000 at digital events. Of those participants who responded, 79 per cent said they will appreciate Scotland’s coasts and waters more, 67 per cent said they will get out, by or on the water more and 63 per cent said they planned to take a more active role in the preservation of our coasts and waters and-or marine environment.
• Collaboration: More than 30 organisations were involved in the Steering and Working Groups and were directly involved in shaping, promoting and delivering the year. Demonstrating the level of collaboration, the campaign hashtags were used more than 122,000 times by hundreds of organisations and individuals, all co-promoting the year. Many collaborative projects were also created in response to the Year – e.g. 18 Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and partners came together to create the West Coast Waters campaign, reaching around 2 million and creating a legacy of partnership working.
• Industry Engagement : Pre 2020 69 per cent of tourism businesses were already aware of the planned Year of Coasts and Waters, 31 per cent were already engaged and 80 per cent of those not engaged were considering it. 76 industry presentations reached at least 2,000 tourism industry representatives. This resulted in over 18,000 views of the online industry toolkit and 896 logos (including 165 Gaelic versions) were downloaded to support partner promotional activity. 11 case studies and 18 interviews showcasing industry engagement were published on visitscotland.org generating 7,000+ page views.

The Year of Coasts and Waters 2020-21 put sustainability and responsible tourism at its heart and worked with supported events organisers to advance responsible events delivery practices. This resulted in:

• Positive Impact : 100 per cent of funded events said that being part of the Year of Coasts and Waters had a positive impact on the way they would work in future.
• Higher Prioritisation – 93 per cent were encouraged to think more about sustainable events management.
• New Processes – 68 per cent of event organisers implemented a new activity or process in managing their environmental impacts.

Direct Cost

Direct cost incurred by the Scottish Government for the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020-21 was the budget of £1.14 million over FY 2019-20 and 2020-21. Of this, £1.09 million was allocated to VisitScotland and £50,000 via a grant to YouthLink Scotland to support the Micro Local Area Grant (MoLAG) programme.

Other public bodies and partners including VisitScotland also supported the year through their own resources, with a wide range of projects and campaigns created or aligned to take advantage of the collaborative platform created by the Year of Coasts and Waters.

Indirect Costs

In terms of indirect costs, within the Scottish Government, work on the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020-21 was coordinated by the then Major Events and Themed Years Unit. With 2.6 FTE members of staff incorporating this as part of their existing roles: the overall resource allocation for the year was less than 2.6 FTE as the team also worked on other projects. In addition, a small number of other civil servants in different teams across a range of portfolios contributed to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities. In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks associated with the year carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded because there is no business need to do this.

Year of Coasts and Waters 2020-21 Events

Across the Funded and Partner event programmes 110 events were delivered with activity taking place across all 32 local authorities. Of the 36 events initially awarded funding support through the Year of Coasts and Waters Open Events Fund, some were unable to progress due to COVID. 28 were eventually able to progress and were delivered across 26 local authority areas.

Alongside the Funded events, unfunded Partner events were still supported through the free marketing and media resources offered by VisitScotland. 174 events initially registered as Partner Events across 30 local authorities, with 82 events of these unfunded events eventually able to go ahead when COVID conditions allowed.

The following table therefore shows the locations (including across multiple local authority areas), grant awards and final dates for the 28 events funded through the Year of Coasts and Waters Open Fund administered by VisitScotland.

Independent analysis carried out for Scottish Government showed that, with the right investment, the number of low carbon jobs in energy production is estimated to rise from 19,000 in 2019 to 77,000 by 2050. This would mean there are more jobs in energy production in 2050 than there are now. The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, on page 89, shows estimates of direct and indirect low carbon production jobs by sector and the table below notes these projected job numbers. The “other” jobs listed in the table include: solar PV, wave and tidal, carbon transport and storage, bioenergy and waste and nuclear. The analysis did not provide an estimate of the average salary of low carbon jobs as a whole or by sector because currently available official statistics (Office of National Statistics Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy – LCREE data) do not include average salary estimates for low carbon energy sector jobs (e.g. hydrogen).

Public bodies climate change duties are set out at Section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Responsibility for compliance with these duties, including reducing carbon emissions and meeting relevant net zero targets, lies with the public bodies themselves.

Data from the industry itself clearly shows that a significant proportion of the oil and gas workforce will retire in the coming years.

As a responsible government, we have set out a pathway to ensure a fair and just transition for our energy workforce, and to bring a new generation of skilled workers into the industry. Given the North Sea basin is mature and production is already in decline, any other course of action would only serve to put jobs and our economy at risk.