Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not carried out specific analysis on this issue.

There are complexities and a variety of international travel possibilities within the global international oil and gas industry. Risk of Covid infection for workers travelling to and from installations on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) cannot be attributed to any single factor, but a comprehensive range of infection control measures has been implemented to reduce this to as low as reasonably practicable.

The regulation of occupational health and safety is reserved to the UK Government. Statutory responsibilities for enforcement in the offshore oil and gas industry lies with the Health and Safety Executive.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 employers have a statutory duty to protect the health and safety of their employees, to undertake appropriate risk assessments and to put in place appropriate mitigations.

The Scottish Government has no statutory involvement in workplace health and safety regulation.

The following data was collected via energy performance certificates (EPCs) submitted for all new build completions in Scotland since 2016. This indicative data is based on analysis of new build EPC records lodged on the EPC register between Q1 2016 and Q4 2020. A total of 92,900 EPC records were analysed.

Numbers in the tables have been rounded to the nearest ten. This is the best currently available data:

For all woodland creation proposals, applicants are required to undertake land surveys as part of their due diligence. This due diligence includes surveying for peat soils, including deep peat. Where peat soils are found, further more intensive surveys are required, to produce a detailed soil survey map which is submitted to Scottish Forestry for approval. Depending upon the distribution of peat and peat depths across the proposal area, further peat surveys may be required before a contract for woodland creation is approved and a final detailed peat and soil survey map is accepted. At this time, a species and constraints map is also agreed and areas of deep peat are excluded from the agreed contract. We have released new cultivation guidance on 26 July and this will prevent the use of high impact cultivation techniques on peat and organo-mineral soils over 10cm.

Applicants and agents use existing soil survey maps for Scotland as a baseline ahead of beginning on site land surveys. Subsequently areas of deep peat are demarcated on site and cultivation contractors are provided with soil and species maps to ensure cultivation is undertaken in line with the agreed contract.

Network Rail is due to undertake ground investigation and survey works of the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route during autumn 2021. The outputs from this will inform the next stage of development and planning to determine the appropriate electrification programme.

As of 20 July 2021, the First Minister had 3 meetings arranged in the run up to COP26 (31 October 2021), and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport had 15 meetings planned. It is not currently possible to specify the exact number of meetings all ministers have arranged to take place in the lead up to and during the course of COP26. This is because the number of meetings is continuously rising, as an increasing volume of requests for ministerial involvement are received. Scottish Ministers are committed to maximising the opportunities of COP26, before, during and after the conference.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01623 on
‎ 16 August 2021. 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

There are currently 49 members of Scottish government staff in specific COP26 posts, with 11 further specific posts under recruitment. A wide range of other staff members across the Scottish Government contribute a percentage of their time to working on COP26.

The Scottish Government looks forward to a successful COP26 in November that delivers increased global ambition to net zero in a way that is fair and just. Scottish Ministers have engaged widely on COP26, and will continue to do so in the run up to, during and after the conference.

Between 1 January 2020 and 20 July 2021, all Scottish Ministers (excluding the First Minister) attended a total of 36 meetings in relation to COP26. Between 1 January 2020 and 28 July 2021, the First Minister attended 4 meetings in relation to COP26. The majority of meetings included in these figures are external engagements, including meetings between the previous Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change And Land Reform Ms. Cunningham and the UK Government. Whilst meetings referenced here include those with COP26 as a specified focus of the engagement, a significant amount of climate- related Ministerial meetings since Glasgow was announced as the COP26 host city are likely to have included discussions of COP26 to some extent.

It is for developers and the market to decide whether or not to bring forward proposals for new electricity generating stations in Scotland.

Our 2017 Energy Strategy set out our priority for a whole system approach that promotes renewables and other low carbon alternatives as part of a diverse, well balanced energy supply. The Strategy confirmed that we do not support a new generation of nuclear stations under current technologies. The economics of these stations are prohibitive, especially given the falling costs of renewable and storage technologies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01690 on
‎ 16 August 2021. 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