Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a just transition to net zero, which requires working in close partnership with high carbon sectors, businesses and our local communities.

The Scottish Government is working alongside high-emitting businesses to help them understand their carbon impact and to decarbonise while building resilience and strengthening competitive advantage. We have committed £62 million to support the oil and gas sector to progress the energy transition via the Energy Transition Fund, alongside £180 million via the Emerging Technologies Fund (EETF) to support the development of Scottish hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) industries over the next five years. These technologies will facilitate the faster decarbonisation of energy intensive industries across Scotland.

In addition, we have commenced £60 million of co-investment with industrial manufacturers to transition towards lower carbon production. The £34 million Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) is supporting industrial energy efficiency and deeper decarbonisation projects, tailored to the specific needs of Scotland’s industrial base. The £26 million Manufacturing Low Carbon Challenge Fund (MLCCF) will build on the successes of the Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund to support innovation in low carbon technology, processes and infrastructure.

As highlighted in Scotland’s Climate Change Plan update, we will launch a Net Zero Transition Managers Programme, facilitating a number of non-revenue generating roles within Scottish manufacturing businesses to incentivise energy intensive industries (EII) to compete in low margin markets. The Managers will be embedded in their organisations and tasked with identifying, quantifying and recommending decarbonisation opportunities for the businesses.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the business community to help support the transition, with a specific focus on high carbon and strategic economic sites, like Grangemouth. Last year, we established the Grangemouth Future Industry Board to help support the sustainability and competitiveness of that core manufacturing cluster, and help harness its assets, capabilities and skills as we transition to net zero.

The Scottish Government is currently working to establish a high-level, cross-sector strategic partnership, the Scottish Industrial Decarbonisation Partnership (SIDP) to shape the long-term policy approach to the decarbonisation of energy intensive industries. This new policy commitment is a direct response to engagement with stakeholders, is in line with the Climate Change Committee recommendations and will focus on improving the conditions for delivery of deep decarbonisation. To develop a whole-system approach to net zero industrial transition, SIDP will have a diverse membership that is reflective of the markets, and the culture, that Scottish industry operates within.

Early and strategic planning is required to ensure the benefits of the transition to net zero are captured, and risks mitigated. As such, the Scottish Government will work with businesses, trade unions, and communities, to bring forward sectoral Just Transition Plans, charting the transition of sites, industries, and regions.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a just transition to net zero, which requires working in close partnership with high carbon sectors, businesses and our local communities.

The Scottish Government is working alongside high-emitting businesses to help them understand their carbon impact and to decarbonise while building resilience and strengthening competitive advantage. We have committed £62 million to support the oil and gas sector to progress the energy transition via the Energy Transition Fund, alongside £180 million via the Emerging Technologies Fund (EETF) to support the development of Scottish hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) industries over the next five years. These technologies will facilitate the faster decarbonisation of energy intensive industries across Scotland.

In addition, we have commenced £60 million of co-investment with industrial manufacturers to transition towards lower carbon production.

• a £34 million Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) will support industrial energy efficiency and deeper decarbonisation projects, and be tailored to the specific needs of Scotland’s industrial base
• a £26 million Manufacturing Low Carbon Challenge Fund (MLCCF) will build on the successes of the Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund to support innovation in low carbon technology, processes and infrastructure.

As highlighted in Scotland’s Climate Change Plan update, we will launch a Net Zero Transition Managers Programme, facilitating a number of non-revenue generating roles within Scottish manufacturing businesses to incentivise energy intensive industries (EII) to compete in low margin markets. The Managers will be embedded in their organisations and tasked with identifying, quantifying and recommending decarbonisation opportunities for the businesses.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the business community to help support the transition, with a specific focus on high carbon and strategic economic sites, like Grangemouth. Last year, we established the Grangemouth Future Industry Board to help support the sustainability and competitiveness of that core manufacturing cluster, and help harness its assets, capabilities and skills as we transition to net zero.

The Scottish Government is currently working to establish a high-level, cross-sector strategic partnership, the Scottish Industrial Decarbonisation Partnership (SIDP) to shape the long-term policy approach to the decarbonisation of energy intensive industries. This new policy commitment is a direct response to engagement with stakeholders, is in line with the Climate Change Committee recommendations and will focus on improving the conditions for delivery of deep decarbonisation. To develop a whole-system approach to net zero industrial transition, SIDP will have a diverse membership that is reflective of the markets, and the culture, that Scottish industry operates within.

Early and strategic planning is required to ensure the benefits of the transition to net zero are captured, and risks mitigated. As such, the Scottish Government will work with businesses, trade unions, and communities, to bring forward sectoral Just Transition Plans, charting the transition of sites, industries, and regions.

As per the Scottish Government statement in May 2021, we will take action to ban single-use plastic cutlery (forks, knives, spoons, and chopsticks), as well as other problematic single-use plastic items such as plates, straws, balloon sticks, stirrers and expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers and cups for beverages.

The Scottish Government is committed to matching or exceeding the standards set out by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive and recently concluded a public consultation on our draft Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products and Oxo-degradable Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 . The draft regulations will now be made available to the World Trade Organisation for comments, in compliance with our commitments under the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. Final regulations will be laid before Parliament later this year.

Across Scotland in 2019 households once again recycled more than they sent to landfilI, and the whole-life carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste reached its lowest level since official recording began. There is however still work to be done to reduce waste further and increase recycling.

31 of 32 Scottish local authorities are now signed up to the Scottish Household Recycling Charter. Last year’s Programme for Government committed to evaluate the Charter with COSLA, and review its Code of Practice to ensure it reflects current best practice and makes it easier for households to recycle the right things.

This will ensure the Code of Practice will evolve in line with best practice and developments across the waste and recycling sector, including the introduction of our ambitious Deposit Return Scheme, and other Extended Producer Responsibility schemes.

Scottish Government are currently working with COSLA and SOLACE to complete the review of the Code Of Practice. A consultation on proposed changes is planned for the autumn.

To support local authorities to align recycling services with the charter, we have launched a new £70 million fund to improve recycling infrastructure, one of the largest single investments in recycling in Scotland. We have also committed to developing a new route map to achieve our ambitious 2025 waste and recycling targets.

The Scottish Household Recycling Charter, agreed in partnership between Scottish Government and COSLA, aims to bring more consistency to recycling services. One of the principles of the charter when designing services is to reduce the capacity provided for waste that cannot be recycled to encourage citizens to recycle, while ensuring all citizens have access to services for recycling and are provided with adequate volumes of containers in line with the Code of Practice.

As part of the Programme for Government 2020-2021, Scottish Government have committed to review the Household Recycling Charter’s Code of Practice, to reflect current best practice and make it easier for households to recycle the right things. The review is a key step in developing a future model of recycling collections, aligning with Scotland’s new deposit return scheme to drive further consistency.

Zero Waste Scotland are leading an advisory group with representatives from Local Authorities and COSLA, to review the Code of Practice. Residual waste capacity is being considered as part of the review.

COP26 will put Scotland on the global stage when leaders from around the world come together this November to take collective action in tackling the climate emergency. The opportunity to inspire and galvanise action with people across Scotland is clear. But COP 26 also presents a significant opportunity to showcase Scotland as a global leader in sustainable and inclusive economic development and to showcase our expertise in climate change solutions.

In the run up to COP26, Scottish Government, together with its enterprise agencies and VisitScotland, will be taking every opportunity to showcase the best of our business and tourism landscape. Our communication efforts will maximise the opportunity of COP in Scotland to enhance our progress to Net Zero through a Just Transition, and attract the innovation, investment and partnerships that will help us achieve this.

Across all of the venues during the conference, we will ensure that participating nations can see the best that Scotland has to offer. Clear branding and targeted marketing campaigns will show delegates, visitors and businesses what is distinctive about Scotland, whilst also demonstrating our climate leadership. Our Brand Scotland marketing platform will be central to the delivery of all marketing activity ahead of and during COP26.

We are also developing a number of partner toolkits to share with the media, our international network, external stakeholders and brand partners, all of which will seek to extend reach, awareness and advocacy around the event.

COP26 represents an opportunity for Scotland to showcase its green tourism credentials. With around 30,000 delegates projected for Scotland over the period VisitScotland are ensuring that people arriving in Glasgow will receive a warm welcome. COP26 also gives us an opportunity to enhance Scotland’s reputation in the longer term. We will use this opportunity to attract climate conscious tourists to enjoy Scotland’s amazing tourism offer.

During the event, our trade and investment focus will be on an exhibition and programme of events at our 1,750sqm Scottish Innovation and Investment Zone on Glasgow’s Cessnock Quay, adjacent to the UN Blue Zone and the UK Green Zone. Innovation and investment will drive the transition to Net Zero in Scotland, and globally. Our vision for the zone is of participation and conversations, on how we can collaborate to take action, with Scotland and our businesses at the forefront of that transition.

We will showcase Scotland’s businesses leading the way, demonstrating Scotland’s ambition and innovation. We aim to create an immersive experience where everyone can see a vision of a net zero future and real progress being made, with the promise of more to come. An outline programme will be published in the early autumn.

As well as delivering our own activities, Scottish Government is supporting UKG to ensure the successful delivery of COP26 in Glasgow and working closely with UKG partners to maximise our opportunities to promote Scottish solutions to the climate crisis. For example, the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise will be attending a Global Investment Summit, Building A Green Future Together , hosted by UK Government in London and Windsor in the autumn. This event in the run up to COP26 will showcase the pick of investment ready environmental businesses from across the UK, including several key Scottish companies, to a high profile audience of international investors. In developing our Scottish programme, we are looking as far as possible to align with the UK’s announced programme of theme days to produce a coherent experience for delegates and visitors. We will continue to look for areas where we can align with and enhance the UKG programme.

COP26 is not an end in itself. From a trade and investment perspective, we will use this event to accelerate our work on delivering our commitment to Net Zero, as set out in Scotland’s Vision for Trade . Net Zero is at the heart of our global capital investment plan, Investing with Purpose , and our inward investment plan, Shaping Scotland's Economy . By grasping this opportunity to showcase Scotland’s strengths and the economic opportunity presented by a just transition, the Scottish Government will further invigorate the transformation of our economy to address the global climate emergency.

The Scottish Government has committed to dedicate £100 million funding, of the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland over the next five years and support the realisation of our ambition for 5GW installed hydrogen production capacity by 2030. More details on the proposed design and scope of the Fund will be published alongside the Hydrogen Action Plan later this year.

According to the latest information available from the Improvement Service report on Instrumental Music Services, 56,198 pupils received instrumental music lessons from their local authority service at some point in 2019-20. This equates to around 8.1% of all Scottish school pupils.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00728 on 5 July 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

The board has met on nine occasions between March 2020 - May 2021. The next meeting of the board will take place on the 5 th of August 2021 followed by two further meetings before the end of the year.