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Attracting green investment for the world’s move towards net zero is a massive issue in Scotland, as well as a global issue, and we need to realise the energy potential of offshore wind and other technologies to create the jobs that we want to see in the future. Activity is under way to attract more capital investment to Scotland; we have a capital investment plan. The First Minister’s recent panel has also reported on how to attract international investment to Scotland to fund net zero, and the Government is considering its recommendations to see what we can do to deliver them. In the past few months and years, there has been a lot of activity in that space among the private capital markets and players, as well as in the public sector and Scottish Government initiatives.

On the challenges, I go back to my previous answer. Obviously, we are in a time of high interest rates, and we have seen some economic instability at the UK level in the past year or two, which does not help that stable environment. I am also the minister for trade and, when I speak to inward investors from around the world, they are full of praise for Scotland. I am not just saying that because I want to sit here as a minister and say good things. It is eye-opening to hear what people outside Scotland say about Scotland. We do not hear enough of that, because we hear a lot of negativity in our own country. When I speak to companies overseas, they are very positive about Scotland. They tell me that they are attracted to investing in Scotland and our energy transition in particular—not just that technology but lots of other sectors—because they have seen that Scotland has a stable, long-term and committed net zero policy. The Government has been in power since 2007, and that has helped greatly because we have been able to make such a long-term commitment. That is what I hear from international investors, and it will deliver a lot of dividends for Scotland.

I should have addressed that point in my earlier answer to your question about challenges; it is a very important point. Ensuring that the grid can deliver is clearly a massive challenge. In order to deliver the just transition, we need projects to be up and running. That will deliver the jobs, the activity and the revenues, but in order to get those big projects up and running we need access to the grid. That, of course, is one of the biggest challenges.

My colleagues Gillian Martin, the Minister for Energy and the Environment, Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy and others have been doing a lot of work on that as part of the development of the energy policy. The final strategy will be delivered and published by the summer. National Grid has been adapting its policies, and a lot of initiatives are now under way to prioritise renewable energy developments.

You have raised a very important point, and I am happy to write to the committee about that. I am not the minister who is dealing directly with National Grid on the issue, but there has been a lot of activity in the past 12 months.

Skills Development Scotland does its own skills assessments. Representatives of that body gave evidence to your committee but I am not sure whether that issue was raised with them directly.

A lot of work is under way, and Skills Development Scotland continues to do regular skills assessments for the green energy sectors and the rest of the sectors in Scotland. The Energy Transition Zone in Aberdeen, for instance, is creating five skills hubs, and the cabinet secretary, Màiri McAllan, was at the recent launch of the key hub at North East Scotland College. The Scottish Government is putting, I think, around £4 million to £5 million towards that. There are a lot of exciting initiatives happening.

The Robert Gordon University has carried out a lot of work on the monitoring of skills, which the Scottish Government often refers to, laying out the challenges of the skills requirements between now and 2040 to 2050. RGU showed that, if we play our cards right, we could have more energy jobs than we have now in north-east Scotland and across the country.

Many companies that speak to me talk about shortages in skills and labour. It is not just an issue of people transferring from one sector to another; there are quite often jobs available for people who are looking for them. It is about making sure that we have upskilling in place. RGU, the University of Aberdeen and others in north-east Scotland are doing a lot of work on upskilling, short courses and so on, so we have to support that.

From the word go, we were persuaded that participatory budgeting was an important element of delivering the just transition fund in north-east Scotland and Moray. It is important for engagement with communities, the bottom-up approach and allowing communities and groups to come together to decide what the just transition means for them before coming up with projects that will help to deliver it in their communities.

A lot of really good, exciting, innovative and creative thinking about the just transition is going on in communities. It has been very helpful in increasing engagement and raising awareness. I indicated that, the first time, 10,000 people voted for the projects; then it was 19,000. That is evidence that awareness is rising, as is engagement. We are committed to delivering at least £1 million a year over this session for participatory budgeting, so that will continue.

I am the MSP for Moray, so I meet the groups in my area in particular. It is inspirational to see how they are addressing the just transition and to hear the debates and discussions that are taking place and what it means for communities in the area. Likewise, that is happening for Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen city. The third-sector organisations help to run that process for us; in fact, they run it on our behalf and are funded to do so. They are playing an important role.

I assure the committee that many projects are being funded. I have a list here—obviously, I can only hold this up at the moment. These are lists, which run over many pages, of the projects that are being funded through the north-east and Moray just transition fund alone. There are many other funds that are not covered—

You are right that the Scottish National Investment Bank is at arm’s length from ministers. We allocated £25 million of financial transactions funding to the bank, and decisions on how and in which projects that money is invested are for the bank. However, one of the bank’s objectives is to support the net zero agenda, and the £25 million allocation is for the just transition. The projects will be delivered and chosen by the bank, not ministers, because it is an arm’s-length body but, clearly, our expectation and agreement is that the £25 million will be funded from the just transition fund.

The reason for using the bank is that it has a lot of experience with financial transactions, which is a resource provided to the Scottish Government by the UK Government. They are complex—they are, in effect, very long-term loans—but they are a way of supporting capital investment, and that is why they are part of the just transition fund. Clearly, we do not have the capital to fund everything that we would like to fund, so that is why we use financial transactions and, in turn, why we use the bank.

As for its transparency, that is an issue to raise directly with the bank, which, I think, you have taken evidence from. I will certainly reflect on the question for our next conversation with the bank. Once the announcements are made, these things will be in the public domain.

I am certainly conscious of it. It is a bigger issue for applicants who do not have the capacity or other sources of revenue to make an on-going commitment to particular types of projects. The smaller the organisation, the bigger the challenge that it will face.

I come back to my original point that the just transition fund has to be transformational. In 10 years, we will have to be able to look back and think, “The public purse invested £500 million in the just transition in north-east Scotland and Moray, and we can see how it has been transformational.” We have to look back at that point and see that it has been transformational, and we can do that only by supporting transformational projects.

As part of the just transition principles, it is not just big shiny projects that have to be funded—we want to fund community projects, too, which can come in a variety of types. However, capital is clearly needed for transformational projects. The emphasis is on capital, and, as I have said, the financial constraints that we face just now obviously mean that on-going revenue commitments are not necessarily affordable. So, yes, I am conscious of the issue, and yes, I am always keen to investigate what more we can do, particularly for smaller organisations.

We have our £75 million commitment, part of which is the on-going commitment of £12.2 million in the draft budget. That is because of the capital constraints that we face as a Government. Both financial transactions and capital funding have been reduced by the UK Government; as you will know—indeed, it has been well documented—the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has talked about a real-terms cut of 10 per cent. That gives us challenges.

We would like to be in a position to put more resource into the just transition fund. Clearly, what is before Parliament just now is a draft budget, so we cannot say too much until we are sitting here with the final figures. I want to make it clear to the committee, though, that this is all due to the financial challenges that we face. We will have ground to make up, and we have the commitment in place for the £500 million over 10 years, so let us all hope that the financial environment improves sooner rather than later so that we can fund all the vital projects that we need for the just transition.

I understand the tension, and I have heard that argument and that point being made many times. First, yes, there will be funding for projects of that nature as we move through the 10 years of the fund; in fact, some projects are being funded already.

Clearly we will pay attention to the balance of the kinds of projects that are supported, but I return to the fact that we have to be transformational. The transformation can happen at different levels. I am not saying that it will happen only through larger projects; indeed, we are supporting lots of small to medium-sized enterprises at the moment. We are working with the energy transition zone—it gets funding. Last year, we funded 10 SMEs, and 14 companies, I think, have been lucky enough in the latest rounds for the energy transition fund. There is a full name for the fund, which I can give you in a second or two—it is called the supply chain pathway and energy transition challenge fund, and it has already supported 24 projects and SMEs, if I am right.

SMEs are being supported. It is not just large projects; as I have said, some community projects have been funded, too. We will pay attention to the balance, but we also have to pay attention to transformational projects, which can be very expensive. Changing the energy used in a community, for example, is a very expensive project, and we have to make sure that such projects are transformational.

The just transition fund is not the only fund that funds the just transition in north-east Scotland and Moray; there are many others. The green jobs fund, for example, supports the creation of green jobs and helps SMEs. It represents a £100 million commitment over five years, and we have already seen enterprise companies deliver on it. There are various funds supporting the just transition.

I understand the concern and absolutely identify with it. Capacity building is a big theme to ensure that it is not just the loudest voices and the same voices that command all the attention of the public sector, the Scottish Government or whoever else. That is an argument that applies not just to this debate but across the board.

Capacity building is really important, and we have to find ways of ensuring that local government and central Government, which have a lot of influence over that, can work closer together to ensure that all voices are heard and that we find ways, if we can—resources are so tight just now—of building capacity so that it is not just the loudest voices that are listened to. As a minister, I make a special effort to make sure that I do not just listen to the usual loudest voices, and I am confident that my colleagues do that, as well. As the participatory budget process shows, we are beginning to involve more people.

Catriona Laing wants to add something.