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The Office of National Statistics (ONS) Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) Survey provides estimates of employment in offshore wind across the countries of the UK.

The 2021 LCREE estimates show that 3,100 Full Time Equivalent Staff (FTE) were directly employed in offshore wind in Scotland. There is no regional breakdown of the data available.

The results in LCREE are survey-based, the data is gathered from a sample rather than the whole population. The estimates are therefore subject to uncertainty, which is expressed through the publication of confidence intervals alongside the data.

The latest version of the LCREE publication can be found here: Low carbon and renewable energy economy, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

The Fund's focus in 2023-24 will be on deploying £25 million in capital grants, as part of the £50 million multi-year programme that was announced last year.

Additionally, £25 million has been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24 to invest on a commercial basis, in line with the Bank's Investment Strategy.

Utilising the commercial investment expertise and experience of the Bank offers a key opportunity to unlock third party finance at the scale required to meet our ambitions for a just transition in North East and Moray.

There are no sewage discharges into Peterhead Lido, designated bathing water. The recent Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Scottish Water’s published Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) spill data stating that ‘sewage was discharged for a staggering 483 hours last year, totalling 337 separate sewage dumps onto the beach’ and widely reported in the media is incorrect.

Peterhead Lido is located within Peterhead Bay Marina harbour walls, which is situated within Peterhead Bay again protected by a second set of harbour walls. Peterhead Wastewater Treatment Works short sea outfall CSO, as highlighted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, is located 1 km south around a coastal peninsula outside both sets of harbour walls away from Peterhead Lido. Given its location it cannot discharge sewage into Peterhead Lido or impact on its bathing water quality.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying protecting and improving water quality at designated bathing waters. Peterhead Lido is currently classified as having excellent bathing water quality. Overall, 98% of bathing waters currently meet the bathing water standards with more beaches being classified as excellent than ever before.

As previously explained, the business case for the Aberdeen to Central Belt project was delayed while Network Rail took more time than first expected to complete some of its activities. There is also a fundamental need for the business case to fully recognise the emerging plans for the decarbonisation of the Aberdeen to Central Belt route.

The business case has reached an advanced stage of development and will be published when complete.

The estimated average award per property for which funding has been awarded for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund for capital funding since it was established is an estimated £13,184.

The funding awards included projects submitted under Theme 1 for Zero Emissions Heating Systems for Social Housing across Scotland and Theme 2 for “Fabric First” Energy Efficiency Only Projects.

The Just Transition Fund sends a clear signal of our support for the North East and Moray however government alone cannot finance the region’s journey to net zero. The Scottish National Investment Bank will invest this £25 million funding in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, its missions including to support the Just Transition to net zero, and the Fund’s geographic remit.

Officials have engaged regularly with the Enterprise Agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank to inform the approach to Just Transition Fund investment capital.

On 24 January officials engaged with representatives from local councils, chambers of commerce, enterprise agencies, regional economic development organisations and community groups to reflect on the lessons learned from the first year of the Just Transition Fund.

On 9 February 2023 the former Minister for Just Transition held a series of engagements with representatives from Opportunity North East, Energy Transition Zone and the Net Zero Technology Centre.

The £25 million which has been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24, is part of the ten year, £500 million Just Transition Fund. It will be invested on a commercial basis in line with the Bank's Investment Strategy.

Officials and the former Minister for Just Transition engaged with a range of stakeholders from the region, including Enterprise Agencies, to inform the decision to allocate funding to the Bank.

The £25 million funding will be allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24 to invest in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, and in support of a Just Transition to net zero in the region. The funding will be invested by the Bank on a commercial basis, to leverage further private investment towards accelerating a just energy transition across the North East and Moray.

The Bank has a proven track record having committed £415.1 million across 27 investments, alongside over £680 million of third party capital since 2020. Utilising the Bank’s commercial investment expertise and experience represents a key opportunity to unlock third party finance at the scale required to realise our ambition for a just transition in the region.

My visit aimed to cover a number of areas in the Scotland/US relationship. It had a particular focus on trade and investment, culture, higher education and – linking all of these things – Scotland’s network in the US. This visit offered an opportunity to build upon my visit to the US in April 2022, as well as other Ministerial visits over the past 12 months. It also presented an opportunity to launch our Scottish Connections Framework, Scotland’s new diaspora strategy, in perhaps the most populous (alongside Canada) diaspora location. (Link Scottish Connections Framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) )

I attended Tartan Week, supported by my Private Secretary, the Scottish Government Deputy Director for International, and two supporting officials. Five members of staff based in the US also supported my visit and attended events. The full costs of my visit, and those of all Ministerial travel costs, are routinely published on the Scottish Government website. I would encourage you to look there for more details (Link: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

You also requested the costs for travelling officials who accompanied me from Scotland. Please find these in the following table.

Several of the projects funded by the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund have been awarded funding involving the replacement of a traditional gas boiler. The Scottish Government can provide an estimate, based on the applications received since 2020, that the amount of properties that have been awarded funding involving the replacement of a gas boiler with a zero emissions heating system is an estimated 826 properties.

It should be noted that several of the projects awarded funding from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund involve intervention that is dependent on the specific needs of individual properties. This can include properties that do not have a gas boiler, and in rural areas that are off gas. In these cases, the interventions required may involve the replacement of another heating source for example wet electric central heating systems, storage heaters, oil and solid fuel, with an appropriate zero or low emissions heating system.

Alongside this, several projects funded through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund involve “Fabric First” Energy Efficiency Only Projects. In order to be eligible for “Fabric First” funding, social housing projects must commit to installing zero emission heating. Registered Social Landlords receiving “Fabric First” only funding will be able to apply for subsequent funding to install zero emission heating systems.