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The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a Net Zero, Wellbeing economy and a highly skilled workforce is critical to this ambition. Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation is clear that we must adapt our education and skills system to become more responsive and agile so that it can deliver on our key priorities.

Published in 2020, the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) provides a framework for green skills planning and investment across priority sectors that will be critical to the transition to net zero: Energy, Construction, Transport, Manufacturing and Agriculture and land-use.

Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council are progressing Pathfinder projects to identify the skills requirements necessary to support the priority sectors identified in CESAP including in heat decarbonisation. The Pathfinders are operating in Glasgow City and Shetland Islands and the findings will strengthen the green skills evidence base and inform further action to address green skills gaps.

Other examples of work in the energy sector include the development of an Energy Skills Passport, to support workers as we move towards the just transition. Additionally, the upcoming Onshore Wind Sector Deal, which will enable the delivery of 20GW of installed onshore wind by 2030, will have a specific theme on Skills, Supply Chain and Circular Economy.

Ministers will continue to meet COSLA and individual local authorities on a regular basis to cover a range of issues, including adaptation to the impact of climate change.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with COSLA and SOLACE to agree a New Deal for Local Government in Scotland with the aim of providing greater flexibility over local funding, with clear accountability for delivery on shared priorities and outcomes, such as climate change.

In February, I wrote to COSLA setting out my view that tackling flooding remains a top priority for the Scottish Government and developing a level of resilience to our future flood exposure is one of our greatest climate challenges. The Scottish Government remains committed to improving flood resilience in Scotland, and it is imperative that we make best use of the resources already allocated for this. I have also encouraged COSLA to play an active part in consultation on new a flooding strategy for Scotland recognising how we can build community flood resilience and engage a broader range of delivery partners to deliver more diverse flood management actions faster. A joint Scottish Government/COSLA Flood Risk Management Working Group is considering funding arrangements for flood risk management actions going forward. Managing our exposure to floods and their impacts is a significant and growing challenge as climate change brings more severe and frequent flood events.

We are in discussion with COSLA and the Scottish Cities Alliance about the development of a framework between national and local government to agree shared actions and approaches to delivering climate change action, enabling better alignment between national and local targets and to jointly address the challenges and barriers to delivery.

According to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme’s publicly-accessible MCS Data Dashboard, there were 5,326 MCS certified small-scale low-carbon heating system installations in 2022.

The MCS figures come with the following caveats:

• For the purposes of answering this question, “low-carbon heating systems” comprise (i) Air Source Heat Pumps, (ii) Biomass, (iii) Ground/Water Source Heat Pumps, (iv) Micro CHP, (v) Other Heat Pump Types, and (vi) Solar Thermal.
• MCS certification is not a mandatory requirement, so MCS data does not capture all small-scale renewable energy installations in Scotland. However, as MCS is often a route to government incentives, it is likely to represent a significant proportion of deployment.
• Most installations registered with MCS are in the retrofit market. However, MCS may capture some new-build installations if contractors have chosen to register their installations with MCS.

As set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy (published in October 2021), the vast majority of the 170,000 off-gas homes and at least 1 million homes currently using mains gas, must convert to zero emissions heating by 2030 in order to meet our interim climate targets. We will therefore consult during 2023 on a Heat in Buildings Bill to phase out fossil fuel boilers in Scotland’s homes and buildings and move to clean heating systems.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) is the main source for the number of domestic properties with low or zero emissions heating systems. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fieldwork for the 2020 SHCS was suspended and the methodology for the 2021 SHCS was also impacted. Future SHCS publications will provide more information to measure progress towards the heat transition.

As set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy (published in October 2021), the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings must convert to zero emissions heating by 2030 in order to meet our interim climate targets. We will therefore consult during 2023 on a Heat in Buildings Bill to phase out fossil fuel boilers in Scotland’s homes and buildings and move to clean heating systems.

Since the size and energy consumption of our non-domestic buildings varies considerably, we said in our 2022 Climate Change Plan Monitoring Report that we would adopt a more appropriate indicator based on fossil fuel heat demand. Converting the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings (existing in 2020) to zero emissions heat by 2030 would bring the commercial sector fossil fuel heat consumption to 5,000 GWh or less.

The latest data for fossil fuel heat consumption from the commercial sector was 11,170 GWh in 2020. We will develop our approach for this indicator as part of our Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, due later this year, and use that in future monitoring.

The Scottish Government is aware of the recent announcement by Liberty Steel that it is to install a new Electric Arc Furnace at its Whyalla plant in South Australia.

We applaud Liberty Steel’s commitment to its global decarbonisation strategy which aims to be carbon neutral in its steel production by 2030 and we welcome the steps it is taking towards this goal.

Scottish Government regularly engage with Liberty Steel regarding their operations. We are not aware of any plans to install an Electric Arc Furnace at either Dalzell or Clydebridge at this time. Any such decision would be an operational one for Liberty Steel.

Although the Scottish Government has not made an assessment of historical artefacts within Scottish educational institutions obtained as a result of colonialism, it has encouraged public collections to consider the method of acquisition of all objects in their care, the vast majority of which were obtained ethically and legally.

Any consideration to return historical artefacts would be a matter for the relevant institutions, including universities as autonomous bodies with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decisions. The Scottish Government expects institutions to follow best practice and ensure that decisions in respect of any requests for the return of objects of cultural significance from their collections conform to international standards.

Scottish Government officials continue to engage with the museums sector on these matters, including those museums hosted by universities.

As we have previously set out, there was no freeze on apprenticeships. In line with standard practice, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) reviewed changing demand for Modern Apprenticeship starts in-year and between December 2022 and February 2023 reallocated starts to providers as appropriate within their budget. During this period, and as part of their contract management process, SDS remained in close contact with training providers. Providers with any questions were also advised to contact SDS.

Since wildcats are already present in the Cairngorms, any proposal to release wildcats in this area would be a translocation project to reinforce the existing population, rather than a reintroduction.

The ‘Saving Wildcats’ project submitted a licence application to NatureScot in September 2022 to permit the translocation of wildcats to sites in the Cairngorms Connect Project area from conservation breeding facilities.

In considering the licence application, NatureScot assessed the extent to which the application followed the best practice guidelines set out in the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations. These guidelines involve a range of biological and socio-economic considerations. Also, as part of this process a full ‘Habitats Regulations Appraisal’ was undertaken to assess impacts of the project on European protected sites within the release area.

NatureScot has recently approved the licence application, and has published a licensing decision document at https://www.nature.scot/doc/decision-document-license-application-220947-licence-release-captive-breed-wildcats-felis-silvestris

The National Plan for Scotland’s Islands says that, as part of Strategic Objective 2, the Scottish Government will “Build on Scotland’s National Marine Plan to ensure that fishing and other economic activities stemming from the sea provide increased opportunities for island communities, but at the same time that they are pursued in a sustainable manner.”

We are proposing that HPMAs protect ecosystems and the services they provide, including essential fish and shellfish habitats, which will deliver societal benefits, including for island communities. By being properly designed and located we believe HPMAs would be compatible with, and could contribute to the objectives of, the Islands Plan by providing long term and sustainable benefits for island communities.

As part of our initial consultation on our overall approach to HPMAs, which closed on 17 April, we sought views on a partial Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA). These views will be factored into the ICIA process which can only conclude once specific site proposals have been developed. No sites have been proposed. Site selection will be a participatory process with meaningful island and coastal community engagement at every stage to ensure that any potential differential impacts on islands can be understood and assessed before final site proposals are formally consulted on.