I preface everything that I will say about that with a reminder that we live in a democracy and that everything that is done in a democracy must have, if not the explicit support, at least the implicit support of the majority.
It is possible for Governments to do fairly ambitious things—we have seen a smoking ban introduced, and we have minimum pricing of alcohol. Two different Governments brought in those measures, and it is probably fair to say that there was a degree of muttering in certain quarters about both of those proposals; members of the public were not particularly on board for either. Nevertheless, there was an implicit understanding that the proposals tackled problems that needed to be tackled. In some cases, people were a bit reluctant, while in others they were more enthusiastic, but they were willing to accept that those were, if not their preferred options, at least reasonable ways of taking things forward. It is really important to state at the outset the need for that implicit, if not absolutely explicit, support.
Climate change is on the verge of becoming part of that scenario. The most recent Scottish household survey showed that concern about climate change is beginning to penetrate the majority of households’ and people’s minds, and that is an important indicator of the possibility of pushing forward with climate change policies that might accrue implicit buy-in. That buy-in is important, and we have to know that we are going to get it. As far as policies and certain sections of the community are concerned, that will be easier to do in some areas and harder to do in others.
This is not just a straightforward, across-the-board game that we are talking about; it is something that we have to engage in at every level. Indeed, behaviour change must happen at every level, too. What slightly frustrates me is the way in which, in this debate, we jump from what the Government is doing to what individuals are doing without looking at the range of other groups and institutions, both public and private, in between. Behaviour change can be driven by exemplars. If, for example, a big private company begins to make statements on the matter and makes changes, that helps to build the implicit buy-in that we want across the board. I do not want the conversation to be just about what the Government is doing and what individuals are doing, because there is a whole range of behaviour changes in between that I think are necessary, too.
We must ensure that people know about the technological changes that will help and, as a Government, change our approach to behaviour change. Last week, we announced that we had finished a review of the current public engagement strategy, which is provided for under the 2009 act, and our conclusion is that we need to revise that strategy to ensure that what we do is commensurate with the targets in the bill. We know that the scenario is constantly changing and that we have to keep up with it. I do not know whether colleagues were aware of the review of climate change behaviour issues, but we are thinking about the issue.