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The Scottish Government published new guidance, Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency , on 29 October, to provide advice for public bodies on robust, consistent and comprehensive carbon management.

The guidance says it is vital that public bodies understand the carbon impacts of their decisions and therefore embed carbon into decision-making processes. The guidance says that any investment should consider the whole life impact with regards to climate change to ensure that truly sustainable options are selected. The guidance defines whole life costing as referring to the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset and that typical areas of expenditure which are included in calculating the whole-life cost include planning, design, construction and acquisition, operations, maintenance, depreciation and cost of finance and disposal. The guidance also says that budget holders must understand and actively support a strong focus on climate considerations within procurements and that additional focus must be placed upon whole life costing.

The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020 requires that, from this year, public bodies must report how they will align their spending plans and use of resources to contribute to reducing emissions and delivering emissions reduction targets.

I also refer the member to the answer to your question S5W-05786 on 31 January 2022 and the Scottish Government’s commitment to using public procurement to address the Climate Emergency. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05501 on 31 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is currently being developed. This will include co-design as a key underpinning principle, ensuring workers from across the energy sector have the opportunity to contribute towards this process.

Additionally, we are investing in a green transition for North Ayrshire, supporting the region surrounding Hunterston B. The Scottish Government has invested £103 million in the Ayrshire Growth Deal which will support inclusive growth across the region; and help create good, green jobs.

Security of electricity supply is a reserved matter and is delivered by National Grid ESO across the whole of Great Britain under regulation from Ofgem. Scotland is part of a GB electricity system that is managed by National Grid in its role as Electricity System Operator. NGESO is responsible for sourcing generation to meet demand.

A mixture of renewables, storage and carbon capture technology – as well as increased interconnection across GB and to the continent – can support a secure and decarbonised power sector in Scotland following the closure of the existing large nuclear generators.

Scotland is currently a net electricity exporter and in 2020 exported 20.4 TWh of electricity, equivalent to powering every household in Scotland for 26 months. It only imported a little over 1 TWh of electricity, meaning that net exports of electricity were 19.3 TWh in 2020, its highest year on record.

The ten-year £500 million Just Transition Fund has been established to support the North East and Moray region, which does not host any of Scotland’s nuclear power facilities.

Our forthcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will provide a clear roadmap for Scotland’s energy system. It will be co-designed with workers, businesses and communities across the country and establish a shared vision for Scotland’s energy system, identifying concrete steps to manage the economic and social impacts of the transition fairly.

This year we will outline our sequence of Just Transition Plans, including any sub-sectors or sites of the energy system that would benefit from an individual plan.

There are currently no cases of Avian Influenza in any goose species recorded on Islay.

The barnacle geese present on Islay are from the Greenland population and mixing between these and the Svalbard population in the Solway is rare.

The Islay population are well monitored and are managed using an adaptive management approach, which can respond quickly to any changes in the situation.

As the Cabinet Secretary stated in response to the member’s question in Parliament on 18 November 2021, I wrote to the Defra Secretary of State, George Eustice, on 17 November again highlighting the pressing nature of the UK Government securing reciprocal trade with the EU in the interests of Scotland’s seed potato industry and sought clarification on the issues raised by industry stakeholders in relation to EU imports.

The UK Government Minister of State for Farming, Fisheries and Food, Victoria Prentis, responded on 21 December 2021 assuring me that reciprocal trade with the EU remains the desired outcome, and that the UK Government continues to pursue this with the EU Commission. The letter also indicated that Defra anticipates little impact on the seed potato trade in relation to the import of EU-certified seed potatoes into England and Wales for ware production. This is contrary to the feedback that I continue to receive from Scottish stakeholders who believe there are many ware potato growing businesses in England ready to exploit the opportunity to import seed from the EU. I share the concern of the Scottish seed potato sector, and the lack of a level playing field which allows ware growers in England and Wales to purchase EU seed, whilst Scottish growers are blocked from selling their seed in the EU. I replied to Minister Prentis on 26 January 2022 to reiterate that this is unacceptable and that this imbalance must be addressed as a matter of priority. I also sought an urgent update on Defra plans for future engagement with the EU on seed potato equivalence.

I have also become aware that the UK has recently received an equivalence application from Denmark. If granted, this would allow Danish seed access to the UK. It is unacceptable that the UK Government should give consideration to this request while Scottish seed potato exporters cannot market their world-leading product to the EU. I am writing this week to raise my concerns with Minister Prentis on this matter.

Having been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our Fuel Poverty Strategy was laid in Parliament on 9th November and subsequently published on the Scottish Government's website on 23rd December.

As required by the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Strategy sets out the actions we are already taking to tackle fuel poverty, as well as outlining the further measures we believe will be necessary to meet our ambitious targets for reducing fuel poverty. This includes actions to address each of the four drivers of fuel poverty: poor energy efficiency of the home; high energy costs; low household incomes; and how energy is used in the home.

COBR is shorthand for the UK Government Civil Contingencies Committee that is convened to handle matters of UK national emergency or major disruption. COBR ministerial meetings are described as COBR (M).

The Scottish Government can only report on COBR meetings we are invited to attend by the UK Government. The following table sets out the COBR meetings that the Scottish Government was invited to and which Scottish Ministers attended during 2021.

As confirmed on 14 January 2022, the Scottish Government has offered financial backing of up to £80 million from the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF) to help the Scottish Cluster project accelerate its development.

As set out in our Climate Change Plan Update 2018-2032, £80 million of funding from the EETF will be directed to projects supporting the development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) transport and storage network that will further enable negative emissions technologies (NETs) projects to develop in Scotland. This is the basis on which the figure of up to £80 million was developed.

The Scottish Government first offered this financial backing to the UK Government in a letter dated 12 October 2021 (i.e., prior to the UK Government’s announcement of Track-1 clusters on 19 October 2021) to the UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Her Majesty’s Treasury. Our offer was reiterated in a meeting between the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport and the UK Government’s Minister for Energy, Greg Hands, on 13 January 2022.

Our offer of support was made on the basis that the Scottish Cluster is given certainty of its due status within the UK cluster sequencing process.

The Scottish Cluster demonstrated full suitability for Track-1 status based on the competition criteria, but has been designated as a ‘reserve’ cluster. Awarding the Cluster its ‘due status’ would therefore mean ensuring it can continue its development on a Track-1 timeframe.

Despite repeated requests to the UK Government from both the Cluster and Scottish Ministers, the designation of ‘reserve’ status has come with little clarity and no guarantees of future support for the Cluster. As the First Minister stated in her letter to the UK Prime Minister on 04 November 2021, this uncertainty risks delaying the delivery of crucial and strategically important projects including the decarbonisation of Scotland’s largest point industrial emitter at Grangemouth.

The Scottish Government does not hold all the necessary legislative and regulatory powers to allow us to support the Cluster alone; key levers, including access to BEIS business models, are reserved to the UK Government. Further detail on how the financial backing of up to £80 million could best be spent will therefore be determined in due course following further engagement with the UK Government on the Scottish Cluster’s status within the cluster sequencing process.

As detailed above, our offer of support has been made on multiple occasions to the UK Government. Officials also consulted with representatives of the Scottish Cluster.