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The Scottish Ministers take collective responsibility for all decisions reached by the Scottish Government, and will continue to do so in future, including on our commitment to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off-gas areas from 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we will phase out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel heating systems, in off-gas grid homes from 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.

The Scottish Government will consult further on this proposal during 2022.

The Scottish Government will publish a series of impact assessments which, amongst a range of other issues, consider the effect that the actions we have set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy will have on fuel poverty.

These impact assessments have been taken into account in the development of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, and will inform our programmes and specific policies – including in our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems.

Any subsequent legislation required to deliver on our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems will also be subject to appropriate impact assessments and consultation. This will allow the Scottish Parliament the opportunity to fully scrutinise the impacts of our proposals.

We will also publish our Fuel Poverty Strategy later this year and, as per the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019, we will publish a report on our progress towards meeting the statutory fuel poverty targets every three years.

The Scottish Government’s draft Heat in Buildings Strategy proposed that any regulations requiring the installation of zero emissions heating systems would be phased in, with all building owners being required to comply by 2045.

The draft Strategy specified that it may be appropriate to require earlier compliance from, for example, those using high emissions fuels like heating oil or coal (which are more prevalent in off-gas grid areas).

The draft Strategy was subject to consultation from 5 February to 30 April 2021, and questions 48 and 49 specifically asked for views on the regulatory actions and timescales proposed.

An analysis of the consultation responses can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014464 .

As set out in our final Heat in Buildings Strategy, published on 7 October 2021, the Scottish Government will consult in further detail on our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems during 2022.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is the statutory advisory body to the Scottish Ministers in respect of meeting their duties under climate change legislation.

The CCC has stated that, with respect to the decarbonisation of heat, our short-term priorities should be a reduction in demand through improved energy efficiency and the installation of renewable heating systems in off-gas buildings where the carbon intensity of displaced fuel is greater than on-gas areas.

This advice is set out in the CCC’s ‘Next Steps for UK Heat Policy’ publication, which can be found at: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/next-steps-for-uk-heat-policy/ . This advice has informed our proposed approach to heat decarbonisation set out in our final Heat in Buildings Strategy, published on 7 October 2021.

Transport Scotland, recently published a joint report with Scottish Futures Trust setting out the opportunities to grow Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging network and the conditions that will be needed to facilitate this over the next few years. The report makes reference to Climate Change Committee data which indicated that the UK as a whole may require 280,000 public charge points by 2030, implying the need for 30,000 in Scotland which in turn equates to approximately 4000 each year. Importantly, the report also highlighted that the number of charge points required will be influenced by a range of factors including development of battery and charging technologies and that significant commercial investment through public and private partnerships would likely be needed to develop the network as demand grows.

The Scottish Government has invested over £45m in developing the ChargePlace Scotland network, which now has over 1900 charge points, and is continuing to support network growth. Transport Scotland is working closely with Scottish Futures Trust to consider the most appropriate structures and approach to growing and developing charging infrastructure in Scotland.

As set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan update (CCPu) published in December 2020, a route map will be produced by the end of 2021, assuming the pandemic has moved to a phase to allow this.

The commitment to reduce car kms by 20% by 2030 (against a 2019 baseline) was, as with all of the CCPu transport policy outcomes, determined through consideration of the overall emissions pathway for transport, which in turn was determined by the TIMES model alongside other evidence and assessments.

The 20% figure was also shaped through consideration of a range of analysis, including published academic material and UK Committee on Climate Change assertions on mode shift away from private car use. Moreover, the figure was informed by research Transport Scotland commissioned and undertaken by Element Energy (published here: Decarbonising the Scottish transport sector ). The Element Energy work modelled a number of scenarios to account for the many uncertainties between now and 2030, including the disruption to transport demand brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government’s corporate travel strategy actively promotes the sustainable travel hierarchy. For example, it sets an expectation that people will limit travel by using video conference technology in the first instance. Where staff need to travel they should walk, cycle or use public transport before considering travel by car. We will shortly be reviewing our business travel policy and will assess the potential for a multi-modal approach in the light of operational lessons learned during Covid.

Government agencies are responsible for their own business travel and fleet policies. The information requested is not held centrally.

As detailed in our response to the Just Transition Commission, a co-designed and co-delivered approach will ensure all partners are empowered to engage and that action is fair and co-ordinated. This means placing those most likely to be negatively impacted by the transition at the heart of our process. Empowering people to shape their future is essential in maintaining a strong social consensus for change, and will inevitably be a more robust and creative process of planning. It will also help ensure that all the Just Transition Plans are underpinned by diversity and inclusion. These principles of co-design and co-delivery will inform the way we define the parameters for the Just Transition Fund.

We have already initiated ongoing engagement with key stakeholders, including the new Just Transition Commission, trade union representatives and the Council of Local Authorities, on our approach to just transition. We also expect to launch a specific programme of engagement for the refreshed Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan at COP26 and we have committed to publishing a detailed review of this co-design process, informed by our engagement, following the development of that draft Plan. This will be supplemented by ongoing stakeholder engagement.

The Just Transition Fund will accelerate the energy transition of the North East and Moray regions, and will also support the role of Aberdeen and the wider north east as one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy.

As committed in Parliament, a draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will be published in Spring 2022.

Our approach to developing the Fund will mirror our just transition planning work. The Fund will be co-designed and co-delivered with those who stand to be most significantly impacted by the transition to net zero. This is likely to include, but not be limited to, community groups, workers and trade unions, businesses, business leaders and industry bodies and include input from academia and educators, and climate leaders, activists and thinkers.