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a) A formal staff consultation was not triggered prior to the announcement as there are no compulsory redundancies.

Staff are VisitScotland's priority, and they are engaging with them to discuss their options such as re-skilling, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.

VisitScotland have established a staff engagement programme, which involves every iCentre and allows for both collective and individual engagement and representation throughout the change programme.

b) VisitScotland consulted with Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union prior to the announcement and continue to work with them during the on-going change programme.

Oversight and governance of the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal (SOWSD) is led by the Scottish Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group (OWSLG).

The OWSLG is accountable for delivery of the Sector Deal, including review and approval of the work programme. The group will publicly report at least annually on progress, including on the forecast of operational onshore wind to 2030 and beyond. The group currently meets on a quarterly basis, with Ministers attending meetings twice a year.

In relation to the commitment on a skills paper, the Scottish Government commissioned research to identify the skills and workforce required to support the deployment of onshore wind up to 2030. This research was published through ClimateXChange on 14 May 2024 Workforce and skills requirements in Scotland’s onshore wind industry | ClimateXChange

Page 4 of the Market Framework for Natural Capital - Engagement paper references estimates from the November 2023 Scottish Government research publication 'Assessing the cumulative and cross-sector economic benefits of investment in natural capital in Scotland'. It estimates that £12.5 billion of further investment in natural capital is required in order to meet policy goals, and that this further investment would create 146,000 direct and 197,000 direct and indirect jobs.

However, there is an error at Page 4 of the Market Framework for Natural Capital - Engagement paper in that it references these estimates in relation to 'natural capital markets ' rather than to 'natural capital ' as stated in the research report which does not distinguish between the role of public and private investment in providing the additional £12.5 billion of further investment. This error will be corrected by deleting 'markets' from the sentence on page 4 of the Engagement paper on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the development of the Acorn project and the Scottish Cluster, which are essential for the production of low carbon hydrogen at scale. I attended the Inter-Ministerial Group in February and sit on the UK CCUS Ministerial Forum to represent Scottish interests and make the case for progress on Acorn to be accelerated. The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, and the previous Cabinet Secretary for Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy have also written to the UK Government in recent months to make the case for the acceleration of the Acorn project.

The decision to award the Acorn project is reserved to the UK Government and despite announcing in July 2023 that the Acorn project is ‘best placed’ to meet the criteria, there is still no final decision from the UK Government. This adds further delays to the deployment of CCUS in Scotland.

Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of ICIAs completed by other Relevant Authorities who are responsible for publishing their own assessments in the way that they consider appropriate.

The Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran is at very early stages of proposal, a comprehensive stakeholder engagement exercise will form a critical component of the work plan. The Scottish Government has had early engagement regarding the proposal with business operators. In line with the principles of co-design, it is our intention to engage extensively with all stakeholders including industry, the workforce, the local authority, UK Government, MSPs and the wider community. We will apply a place-based approach that will ensure that the views of all stakeholders are considered, working to reach collective agreement on the plan’s long-term vision and actions.

The Scottish Government will evaluate the approach taken in developing the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan and derive lessons learned when planning engagements with Mossmorran stakeholders. We will apply a place-based approach that will ensure that the views of all stakeholders are considered, working to reach collective agreement on the plan’s long-term vision and actions.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold data on current 4G and 5G mobile notspots.

Ofcom produces an annual Connected Nations report including coverage and performance of mobile networks at local authority area. This is accessible at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research along with underlying datasets.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27341 on 15 May 2024. 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 .

Delivery of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme completed in November 2023 and no further funding has been allocated to this programme beyond 2023-24 .