Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-31121

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address any recruitment challenges faced by the energy sector in the north east.

As set out in our Green Industrial Strategy, the Scottish Government is working with partners across the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce.

This approach includes enabling skilled offshore oil and gas workers to carry their experience and expertise into different roles, including renewables, as the energy transition progresses. We are also committed to the development of Scotland’s CCUS and Hydrogen sectors, which will protect jobs and utilise existing skills within the workforce as well as developing new opportunities.

Funding from the Just Transition Fund has already been allocated to support industry-led development of an Offshore Energy Skills Passport; to create an advanced manufacturing skills hub in Aberdeen and a pilot scheme with the National Energy Skills Accelerator to determine the skills required for an energy transition.

In addition, the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council is currently taking forward crucial work to map the future skills need for offshore wind development, which will help both industry and the public sector to identify and address future skills and workforce gaps.

Question reference: S6W-31111

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the decline in the proportion of businesses in the north east forecasting revenue growth, as reported in Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce's Energy Transition 40th Survey report.

We have noted the latest Energy Transition survey report published by Aberdeen and Grampian Chambers of Commerce and the launch of a North Sea Transition Taskforce. We acknowledge the concerns that businesses are raising through the survey, however we also note the difficulty of measuring change at a regional level over short periods of time.

The energy transition presents an opportunity as well as a challenge to our existing energy sector and Scottish Government is committed to realising that opportunity, especially by securing a just transition for the north east. We have already committed significant funding to the region through our Just Transition Fund and our Energy Transition Fund. We will continue to support growth of our world-leading renewables sector and to enable our existing oil and gas sector to transition.

In September, we published our Green Industrial Strategy, which aims to ensure that Scotland gets the maximum possible economic benefit from the opportunities created by the net zero transition. We are taking steps to support businesses to capitalise on these opportunities.

For example, we have committed up to £500 million strategic investment over five years to support market certainty and facilitate the development of the offshore wind sector in Scotland. The Offshore Wind Supply Chain Development Statements process, carefully designed and managed by Crown Estate Scotland, ensures focus is maintained on supply chain capacity and capability to develop and deliver offshore wind projects in Scotland.

Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) presents a particular opportunity for the north east region. The UK Government recently announced £23 billion funding to support Track 1 CCUS clusters over 25 years. We urgently need a similar announcement for Track 2, including the Acorn project; continued UK Government delays are impacting investor, developer and supply chain confidence, and we continue to call for a meaningful update on this.

Question reference: S6W-31112

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted of the impact on Scotland of the declining trends in the value of work in production, exploration, renewables and decarbonisation within the UK continental shelf (UKCS), as described in Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce's Energy Transition 40th Survey report.

In support of the Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, we commissioned and published a set of independent analysis on the North Sea energy transition. This can be found here: Publication of the outputs from a programme of work to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero - Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Question reference: S6W-31120

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the North Sea Transition Taskforce’s recommendations are implemented effectively to safeguard jobs and support the energy transition.

Question reference: S6W-31116

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the diversification of businesses in the north east away from oil and gas.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with business and industry to deliver a just transition for Scotland’s valued oil and gas sector, which recognises the declining nature of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments.

Our Energy Transition Fund is supporting four major projects in Aberdeen and the north east which promote collaboration across offshore energy sectors. These include the Energy Transition Zone, transforming the region into a globally integrated energy cluster, and the Global Underwater Hub, using underwater expertise, technologies and skills to drive innovation and accelerate the transition.

We are also working with the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce, one that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system. This includes supporting industry-led initiatives to enable skilled offshore workers to carry their experience and expertise into different roles as the transition progresses, and providing funding through the Just Transition Fund to skills initiatives and capacity building within businesses.

Question reference: S6W-31114

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings showing the lowest levels of confidence in the UK continental shelf (UKCS) since the Energy Transition survey series began, as set out in Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce's Energy Transition 40th Survey report.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with business and industry to deliver a just transition for Scotland’s valued oil and gas sector, which recognises the declining nature of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments.

We recognise that the oil and gas sector has an important and valued continuing role to play in our economy and energy; and that retention of both a strong workforce and energy supply chain, will be crucial for the success of the transition to net zero and renewables.

Offshore oil and gas licensing and consenting, as well as the associated fiscal regime, are currently reserved to the UK Government. We continue to call on UK Government to listen carefully to the concerns being expressed by businesses around risks to jobs and investment in the transition.

Question reference: S6O-03990

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish its Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Question reference: S6W-30577

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Net Zero Technology Centre about future funding after the Aberdeen City Region Deal funding stream concludes.

Question reference: S6W-30576

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the Net Zero Technology Centre since its foundation in 2017.

The Scottish Government has provided the following funding to the Net Zero Technology Centre from its foundation to the end of the second quarter of financial year 2024-25:

£148,696,581 through the Aberdeen City Region Deal and paid through Aberdeenshire Council as the Deal's Accountable Body (including funding provided on behalf of the UK Government whereby both governments have committed up to £90 million each over 10 years to financial year 2026-27)
£4,521,000 through the Decommissioning Challenge Fund, payments concluding in financial year 2018-19
£15,151,601 through the Energy Transition Fund
£709,126 through the Just Transition Fund.

Question reference: S6W-30705

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what specific measures are being taken to meet the national ambition of halving childhood obesity prevalence to 7% by 2030, in light of the current rate reportedly being 18%.

Our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, A healthier future: Scotland's diet and healthy weight delivery plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) set out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight. We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

This includes our continued support for convenience stores to increase the accessibility of fruit and vegetables in more deprived areas, supporting businesses to reformulate their products to make them healthier, and maintaining funding to community food networks, to enable them to increase access to affordable, healthier food to their communities and to promote the health benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

We have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations strengthening the provision of balanced and nutritious food to children. Our Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme promotes good nutrition to support healthy physical and brain development through the provision of healthy drinks and snacks in the earliest years.

The annual Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) Scottish Health Survey - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) provides key indicators relating to diet, including fruit and vegetable consumption, weight and physical activity, which we use to monitor progress towards our ambitious aim of halving childhood obesity by 2030.

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