Chamber and committees

As the member has recognised, our abundant natural resources, the sector’s expertise and experience, and the significant investment of the Scottish Government and our enterprise agencies, to date, in wave and tidal energy development have positioned Scotland as a global leader in that sector. However, there is now an opportunity for the UK Government to further build on that success and support the commercialisation and expansion of those nascent technologies, including, as I mentioned, through contracts for difference, which is the primary means of supporting new low-carbon power infrastructure.

I do not think that we are talking about the creation of new bodies. The member makes an important point about the need to ensure that the competing interests in those areas are brought together as much as possible, that we think about spatial planning and that we bring interested parties to the table. The Scottish Government will continue to do that in the areas within our powers.

I recognise the contribution of Nova Innovation and its pioneering projects in the development and deployment of tidal energy and the benefits that go with that, both economically and environmentally, across the country. The Scottish Government would certainly welcome a meeting. I am very happy to arrange such a meeting and to be part of it, and I can confirm that officials also met Simon Forrest, the chief executive of Nova Innovation, recently.

We are committed to securing warmer, greener and cheaper heating for everyone in Scotland. A move towards cleaner fuels must take place as part of a just transition, to ensure that no one is left in fuel poverty. We will review the evidence on the potential impacts of taking forward a ban on the sale of house coal on fuel supplies and costs in rural and islands communities, where many people still rely on coal for heating their homes.

The Scottish Government continues to work with key partners, including Historic Environment Scotland, to enable the best solutions to transition Scotland’s traditional buildings to be more energy efficient and to use clean heating systems while being sympathetic to their character and features.

In 2025-26, we are investing more than £300 million in heat and energy efficiency programmes, including for traditional properties. We are considering how we can provide for more bespoke assessment of the technically suitable energy efficiency and clean heating measures that are available for owners of traditional buildings.

The member is right to say that environmental and economic benefits go together. We will ensure co-ordinated action across the green industry strategic priority areas to maximise positive economic outcomes. We have invested significantly in Scotland’s manufacturing support infrastructure, including an investment of just under £75 million in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the development of regional and sectoral facilities that are focused on improving the knowledge and skill sets that will be needed by the workforce.

Our “Offshore Wind Focus” paper identifies the priority areas for supply chain and infrastructure investment in Scotland’s offshore wind sector and underpins the Government’s approach to delivering a strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years.

I agree on the need to ensure that the skills are there, and it is relevant to island constituencies, such as the one that Beatrice Wishart represents, that we ensure that there are opportunities for training and retraining. For instance, we have invested in a mobile centre for heat pump installation training, to ensure that training opportunities are more equally available across Scotland. I visited that van when it was in Shetland, and I know that it has been appreciated by small businesses there. There are probably similar examples that can be replicated across the rest of the country.

Over the past 10 years, the Scottish Government has invested around £50 million in marine technology development through the funding of Wave Energy Scotland. The growth of a world-leading marine renewables industry in this country has resulted in Scotland being internationally recognised as a global frontrunner in wave energy and home to the world’s first and largest tidal stream array and the largest tidal energy converter. However, the main levers for enabling the commercialisation of emerging pre-commercial technologies lie with the United Kingdom Government, including through the contracts for difference scheme, which is the primary way of supporting new low-carbon power infrastructure.

I concur with what the member said and thank her for sponsoring that event. I also highlight the importance of the Scottish supply chain. As I said, we are investing up to £500 million over five years and we hope and expect that that will leverage in additional private investment of up to £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities that are critical to growing the sector. That work by the Scottish Government to engage and attract the interest of the private sector will ultimately lead to the development at scale that the member alludes to.

I can also point to specific things, including strategic projects such as Sumitomo’s new cable factory, which is under construction at Nigg, or the planned manufacturing facility at Hunterston, as well as projects at Ardersier, Scapa, Nigg and Montrose.

In comparison with much of Europe, Scotland enjoys good air quality, and emissions of the main air pollutants, which Colin Smyth referred to, have declined significantly over the past three decades. That has been achieved through tighter regulation, improved fuel quality, cleaner vehicles and many other factors.

As I mentioned, I am open to looking at such matters as we move forward, but we must do so in a way that takes account of the evidence from particular parts of Scotland.