Chamber and committees

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for her statement and for the announcement of new investment in the Grangemouth area in the coming years.

The cabinet secretary will recognise that it is important that we try to retain many of the skills that have been lost through the closure of the petrochemical site in the Falkirk and Grangemouth area. We need to make sure that secure investment is made in the area in the short term as well as the medium to longer term, but there is a risk that too much of Scottish Enterprise’s work is focused on project willow, which is medium to longer term. Will the cabinet secretary ensure that Scottish Enterprise intensifies its work to secure early employment opportunities in the Grangemouth area in order to maximise the opportunity to retain skills in the area?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support manufacturing, including in the renewable energy sector. (S6O-05263)

The Deputy First Minister will recognise that securing manufacturing capacity in the renewable energy sector in Scotland is critical to the delivery of a just transition. She will also be aware that Ming Yang has proposed a £1.5 billion investment in a manufacturing facility at Ardersier. She will recognise that the delay in the United Kingdom Government making a decision on the matter is now causing significant uncertainty in the renewable energy sector.

What engagement has the Deputy First Minister had with the UK Government on the issue? Will she ensure that she presses the UK Government for an early decision on the matter, given the economic benefits that that investment would bring not only to the Highlands but to Scotland as a whole?

The cabinet secretary will be aware that more than half of ScotWind projects are floating offshore wind projects. Given the technological challenges in that sector, it is essential that, to support its deployment, we attract the blade and cell manufacturing for floating offshore wind to Scotland. Given Mingyang’s proposals for an integrated offshore wind production facility in Scotland, what engagement has the Scottish Government had with the company to support that investment? Will it engage with the UK Government to ensure that decisions are made in support of that proposal at pace, in order to allow that investment to go ahead?

I am grateful to the Deputy First Minister and the First Minister for their on-going engagement with ADL, which is based in my constituency.

It is important that we address the structural issues that have led us to this situation, which relate to the Subsidy Control Act 2022. I therefore ask the Deputy First Minister to engage with the UK Government on two measures. The first is increasing the social value weighting across public sector procurement, and potentially moving it as high as 30 per cent to support domestic production. The second is ensuring that domestic and international bidders are subject to the requirements of the fair work first policy in an equal way to the way in which ADL invests in its workforce. I believe that those measures would help to create a level playing field for ADL and, importantly, for the workforce at ADL.

The minister will recognise that pupil equity funding and strategic equity funding are central to helping to support schools and local authorities to tackle the child poverty-related attainment gap. Falkirk Council has recorded a further narrowing of its numeracy attainment gap due to actions that have been taken by schools and education teams through the support of strategic equity funding. Given the importance of that funding, what impact data is being gathered in order to guide future decisions on the use of SEF?

To ask the Scottish Government what support is currently provided to local authorities to improve literacy, numeracy, and outcomes for young people, while tackling the poverty-related attainment gap. (S6O-05152)

The First Minister will be aware that energy bills across Scotland have risen yet again. That increase has been partly caused by the United Kingdom Labour Government’s costly nuclear tax that we are now paying for Sizewell C—the world’s most expensive nuclear plant. It is estimated that it will cost Scottish households something in the region of £300 million over the next decade alone. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the impact that that will have on Scottish households, and does the First Minister agree that further expansion of nuclear power will bring not only environmental risks but the risk of pushing up energy prices even further?

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for her statement. I welcome the commitment to ensuring that we maximise the economic and environmental benefits of transitioning to net zero. Although good progress has been made, the cabinet secretary will recognise that there is a need to ensure that, in order to meet the 2045 target and the UK’s 2050 target, policy actions on areas such as Acorn and carbon capture, use and storage need to be taken by the UK Government to support us in achieving that. Is the cabinet secretary satisfied that the UK Government has shown the necessary ambition and pace in such key areas to ensure that we can meet our 2045 target and that we can maximise the associated environmental and economic opportunities?

The cabinet secretary will recognise that the path network plays an important part in our recreational programme for walkers across Scotland. However, there is growing concern about the maintenance of the path network. We spend almost £188 million a year on active travel infrastructure, but less than 1 per cent of that is allocated to our national path network. Will she engage with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to explore how a greater allocation of the active travel budget could be allocated to our national path network?