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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 27 October 2025
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Displaying 1621 contributions

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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Electricity Infrastructure Inquiry

Meeting date: 28 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

There is clearly a mismatch, bearing in mind that, as far as we are aware, Scotland has the most expensive transmission costs in Europe, and that—thinking about your responsibility for customer pricing, too—we also have some of the most severe fuel poverty among our energy customers. We are able to generate so much renewable energy precisely because of the rural nature of our geography and the offshore and coastal lines that harness the wind. I think that the mismatch is caused by the speed at which decisions are made. When will the pieces of work that you have mentioned emerge so as to change that policy and give more certainty for investment?

I will then ask a final question, if that is okay, convener.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Deposit Return Scheme

Meeting date: 28 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

I want to take you back to the first question. The name Circularity Scotland implies that the process will be circular and end to end, but you have said in your answers that you are responsible only for the producers. You offloaded retail responsibility to SEPA, trade associations and the Scottish Government. Are you implying that a similar organisation should have been set up for retailers that would do something similar to what you do for producers?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

My degree is in economic history. It would be wonderful if Grangemouth is one of the first places to move to such a model. It is only miles from the birthplace of the industrial revolution at the Carron iron works in Falkirk, and only 10 miles from where shale oil was first discovered in Winchburgh. It would be quite something to imagine that re-engineered future in a place-based approach.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

—but it is about economic growth and productivity.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

This has been fascinating and informative, so I very much appreciate your joining us.

I will start at the macro level. I am interested in what you are saying about decisions that Governments can make that can make things happen. We are expecting the UK Government response to the Skidmore report, there is that point about the delivery plan, and we are hoping in Scotland for a decision on the Acorn project for track 2, because that shifts the dial considerably for Grangemouth, which is the focus of this inquiry.

What are the types of policy decisions that are needed to unlock things? Even in relation to heating buildings, which we have been discussing, the UK Government’s decision on gas boilers is not due until 2026—that is a decision that could be brought forward. I am interested in the types of decisions that would help us to move.

It is about investment in advance of need. I am also deputy convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and we are currently looking at the electricity infrastructure and whether it is an enabler or an inhibitor. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets does not have a net zero policy focus. If it did, it might help some of that investment, and some of that investment in the grid helps us shift on hydrogen, and hydrogen is a big focus for what we are looking at for Grangemouth. It would help us if you illustrated the types of Government decisions that you are talking about that can help move things. Clearly, some of them are in reserved areas, but some are devolved. We are about to get a circular economy bill, so that might help. It would be helpful if you could illustrate the types of decisions that you mean.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

It is back to the future, potentially, in a place-based way—

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

That is a very good overview of the bigger aspects that need to be dealt with. I am very taken by your agreement that place-based approaches can really work. How we translate that into the just transition plan for Grangemouth is going to be very interesting. It is convening power, and it is interesting that the ABI is a convener because everybody needs house insurance. Everyone needs a mortgage, but does a mortgage stay with a person or the building?

Grangemouth is a fascinating place to be a first mover when it comes to how you do everything, as in heat and transport. It has the biggest industrial site in Scotland. Most of the people who work at the site live within 10 miles, we have been told. There is something very geographical about that, and most of the housing—I defer to the constituency MSP on this—is post-1950s. How do you convene that and do it on a place base and entrust the private sector to do it—not just social housing, which would be easier to do?

Is doing things geographically as a package in that way investable? Alexander Dennis, the bus company that does hydrogen, is there so an interesting aspect is using industry as an anchor, as there is a major anchor industrial site. It may not be beyond the realms of possibility that we will get blue hydrogen and then green hydrogen. Hydrogen may not be for housing everywhere, but it might be in district heating in that area because of Acorn and so on. How ambitious is that? Is it realistic to look to use the convening power of local government or whoever to do something on that, or is that too small? Is Grangemouth too small? It has a major industrial site. Could that work together?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

I was thinking of that as well. The mills at New Lanark is a good model. How do you improve things? You take everybody with you. The question that we are wrestling with is: what is a just transition? It is not just about the business but about the communities around it.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

I am conscious of time, but I think that Ben Howarth wants to come in.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area)

Meeting date: 22 March 2023

Fiona Hyslop

Is there anything that you want to say on that, Ben? Does that sound attractive?