Chamber and committees

Last week, it was announced that Aberdeen’s new Baird family hospital and the ANCHOR—Aberdeen and north centre for haematology, oncology and radiotherapy—project would be delayed yet again. As they are now three years late and the costs are now more than double the original budget, can the cabinet secretary give an update on when those two hospitals will be open?

That normally happens when it goes wrong.

Processes have to be followed on procurement, for example, but I guess that the process is not clear for other areas.

One of the areas that the committee will be looking at is recording and reviewing decision making. The impression that I got when we had our group exercise was that there were sometimes tools in place for that, but that maybe they are not often used or followed.

Daniel Johnson touched on the issue of ferries. My question is not really about ferries; it is more about recording who made the decision and then being able to review that later. Do you think that the Scottish Government is doing anything better or worse than other Governments on that, or is it doing about the same?

I thank the committee and the clerks for this excellent report. Its sentiment is summed up in the opening paragraph, which states:

“Scotland will not meet its ambitious target of being net zero by 2045 without a more empowered local government sector, with better access to the skills and capital it will need to play a full role in this energy revolution”.

The message that runs through the entire report is that local government is key to us all in meeting our ambition and targets when it comes to our environmental responsibility. However, to date, the devolved Government has abjectly failed in meeting those targets, and my colleagues Maurice Golden and Brian Whittle shine a light on those failures on a weekly basis. Targets have been missed, funding has been lost and local government has been excluded from the process on schemes such as the deposit return scheme.

Such schemes will have a detrimental effect on council budgets. In December last year, Falkirk Council announced that it will cease its kerbside glass collection, as it would cost £234,000 in lost revenue once the DRS starts. That has huge implications for people who cannot get to a deposit return location.

It is not just the DRS that is causing councils concern. The report highlights the concerns of rural communities, such as those in the north-east, and calls for the Scottish Government to set out what specific assistance will be available to councils that have a large component of rural housing and to our island communities, where there are additional challenges. Given the greater demands in relation to transport and car travel in rural communities, we need answers from the Government on how it will support local authorities to achieve the targets that have been set.

I am proud that, when I was the leader of Aberdeen City Council, we signed a partnership agreement with BP, which became a planning and technical adviser, helping to shape solutions for the city’s net zero path. Working in partnership, BP and Aberdeen City Council explored opportunities such as accelerating the adoption of electric and hydrogen-powered city vehicles, energy efficiency programmes for buildings and the circular economy. The task of the partnership is to connect the dots between experts in the council and those across BP to create the very best and most sustainable decarbonisation solutions for the city.

The partnership was strengthened when both organisations signed a joint venture agreement to develop the city’s hydrogen hub. That is exactly the type of agreement that we require if we are to succeed in meeting our targets. It involves private and public organisations working together, sharing knowledge and expertise and, of course, attracting investment. It is the attracting investment piece that is so vital.

We all know that council funding and resources are being stretched ever further, which will make it even more difficult for local authorities to play their part in becoming net zero. Capital spending for local authorities is an issue, and there is often a conflict between cost and becoming net zero, as Willie Rennie highlighted.

In the Borders, the new high school in Jedburgh is the first plastic-free school to have been built, with all its furniture and fittings coming from sustainable sources. However, that comes at a price, and it will be harder for local authorities to make the right choice. With inflationary costs on building, it is now almost impossible for local authorities to make the initial capital outlay required to ensure the highest environmental standards for new buildings.

Councils have many responsibilities that link in with the net zero agenda: transport, housing, economic planning and support, spatial planning and place making, the built environment, and waste management and recycling. Councils are vital, but, without giving additional support to local councils, the Scottish Government will not achieve its net zero targets. Councils are central to ensuring that the targets are met.

Twelve per cent of Scotland’s housing stock is in the hands of local authorities and the retrofitting of those buildings to meet the targets is a mammoth task. There is no way that our local authority partners can hope to achieve those ambitious targets without additional support from the Scottish Government.

I have already touched on waste and recycling, in relation to the deposit return scheme, which we know is one of the biggest responsibilities of our colleagues in local government. So many of our councils are now moving to longer and longer periods between refuse collections due to funding cuts. That cannot be good for our environmental ambitions, and we have seen an increase in fly-tipping right across Scotland—a topic that my colleague Murdo Fraser is seeking to address in his proposed member’s bill. More support has to be forthcoming for our councils to ensure that they—and therefore all of us—are meeting those important net zero targets.

We are all aware that resources—not only our financial resources, but the resources of our planet—are finite. We have to invest now to protect our future. Governments are good at planning for the short term but often fall short when it comes to planning for the long term—that came through strongly in COSLA’s evidence to the committee. We need to be much better at providing long-term funding solutions to our partners to enable them to take long-term policy decisions in relation to our environment. Councils need our support and a fair funding settlement that allows them to take the innovative and forward-thinking approach to net zero that we need. We need action rather than just warm words from this devolved Government, and I would encourage the cabinet secretary to accept the committee’s recommendations and move urgently to implement them.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it would remove its presumption against oil and gas from its Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in the event that it received significant feedback in favour of such a move. (S6O-01987)

David Whitehouse, the chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, has warned that Scotland will be £6 billion a year poorer by 2030 if the devolved Government presses ahead with the draft energy strategy, and that the strategy marks an acceleration away from oil and gas production. That will have a devastating impact not just on the north-east economy but on Scotland as a whole, with less money for the national health service, less money for teachers and less money for the most vulnerable in society. Will the cabinet secretary commit to working with the industry to avoid such catastrophic damage to our economy?

This weekend, the Parliament rugby teams of Scotland and Ireland will play a match in memory of our former colleague and friend, David Hill, who sadly died playing in the same fixture last year. After the game, there will be a fundraising dinner to benefit two charities: Cardiac Risk in the Young and the Murrayfield Injured Players Foundation.

Will the First Minister join me in wishing both teams well? Will she also acknowledge the strength and courage of David’s parents, Rodger and Sharon, who have been instrumental in organising this weekend’s events so that some good can come from such an awful tragedy? [Applause.]

My amendment seeks to insert ministerial statements into next week’s business. First, we are looking for a statement on the disastrous deposit return scheme. It is turning into complete farce. Most of the producers are not signed up to the scheme and the minister was unable to answer basic questions in this chamber yesterday. The Scottish National Party leadership hopefuls have cast doubt on the scheme and it is only right that the minister gives us an update.

Secondly, we want a statement on the ferry fiasco. At yesterday’s Finance and Public Administration Committee, the minister was unable to answer what the total cost of vessels 801 and 802 would be, and there are now fresh doubts about the timescales. Our island communities deserve better, and they deserve to be updated.

The final statement that we are looking for is on the funding U-turn for our Sistema Scotland projects across the country. Last Wednesday, I asked Neil Gray, who is the responsible minister, to step in and save Big Noise Torry. He said:

“This an issue for our local authorities to determine; it is not for MSPs or Government ministers to intervene in local government decisions.”—[Official Report, 1 March 2023; c 7.]

Less than 48 hours later, the Government performed a screeching U-turn and announced funding for the two Big Noise projects that the SNP administrations had axed in Dundee and Aberdeen. That lifeline is, of course, welcome—[Interruption.]—but questions remain. [Interruption.]

I have visited big noise Torry and I know the good work that it does. It deserves to be treated better than it is at present. The attack by local SNP councillors was shameful, resulting in the massive SNP spin machine rushing into overdrive and getting involved in a panic. No doubt that is because the SNP fears the impact that that betrayal would have on the fortunes of their SNP leader at Westminster, who is meant to represent Torry.

The response was predictable and pathetic in equal measure. Instead of the blame being put on the SNP councillors who wielded the axe, the blame is to be passed to the Tories at Westminster—it is absolutely pathetic. Budgets are about choices, and the councils in Dundee and Aberdeen shamefully chose to axe Big Noise programmes. When the SNP-Liberal Democrat councillors are looking for someone to blame for libraries closing, swimming pools closing and Big Noise closing, they need to take some responsibility and have a look in the mirror. They alone are responsible for the choices and the cuts that they make.

Sistema changes the lives of our most vulnerable. It has a brilliant early intervention and prevention programme. I get it, and I am genuinely pleased that the minister agrees and has stepped in, but questions remain. A statement on Sistema funding will clear up these questions and allow the devolved Government to reaffirm its commitment to Sistema.

I move, as an amendment to motion S6M-08150 in the name of George Adam, to leave out

“2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:
Social Justice, Housing and Local Government”

and insert:

“2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:
Social Justice, Housing and Local Government

followed by Ministerial Statement: Children’s Orchestras Funding U-turn

followed by Ministerial Statement: Ferguson Marine and Ferry Services Update

followed by Ministerial Statement: Deposit Return Scheme Update”.