Chamber and committees

I hope that the member will forgive me, but I have to make progress. Perhaps later on.

There are long-term plans to support long-term outcomes. We have started the journey and must continually refine and develop our approach.

This work sits alongside a wide range of related work, such as our green industrial strategy, which was published last month, and substantial investments, including the just transition fund, offshore wind investment, the energy transition fund and Scotland’s heat network fund.

On the north-east and Moray specifically, I have noted the committee’s recommendations and make it clear that we remain committed to supporting just transition in the region through our fund. We are currently commissioning an independent evaluation of the fund’s impact, but it has already provided hundreds of fully funded training courses and direct investment into 26 supply chain companies in the region, estimated to create more than 1,200 new green jobs in the process. That evaluation will help to inform how funding can be further developed to best serve the needs of the region’s businesses, workers and communities.

We are also providing targeted support to the area through the £125 million Aberdeen city region deal and the £32.5 million Moray growth deal, as well as through the energy transition fund, thereby protecting existing jobs, skills and knowledge while supporting new job creation in the region and across Scotland. However, public funding alone cannot finance the region’s transition, and it is critical that we work closely with the private sector to realise our ambitions. The just transition fund has already directly unlocked a minimum of £10 million of private sector investment, and the £25 million of funding that has been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank has helped to leverage around £40 million of additional spend.

It is clear from the committee’s inquiries that both Grangemouth and the north-east are critical regions in Scotland’s energy system and wider economy today. It follows that they should have a critical role to play in the transition to net zero. The Scottish Government is committed to fairly managing the significant structural changes that can be expected to take place, and to support the workers and communities who are critical to the journey that lies ahead.

Although heat networks are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, consumer protection remains a reserved matter and, therefore, we are reliant on the UK Government enacting the consumer protection provisions that are contained in the Energy Act 2023. We await the new UK Government’s next steps on that. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the UK and Welsh Governments and Ofgem on the implementation of consumer standards, and is participating in a quadripartite group that is overseeing the implementation of the legislation.

The member would not expect me to pre-empt any announcement about what might be in future legislation in any detail. However, we are continuing to implement the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021, and we have passed the Heat Networks (Heat Network Zones and Building Assessment Reports) (Scotland) Regulations 2023, which will help local authorities and the Scottish Government to identify opportunities for heat network developments across Scotland. We will shortly consult on proposals to introduce a proportionate licensing and consenting system for Scotland, which I hope will address some of the issues that the member raises.

This year’s programme for government committed to the introduction of a heat in buildings bill, which will be accompanied by a financial memorandum and all other relevant impact assessments. We intend that to be deliverable and affordable for households and businesses. We continue to offer the most generous package of funding in the United Kingdom for households to transition to clean heating, with various schemes to support those who have difficulty in paying their fuel bills. However, we also need action from the new UK Government to rebalance gas and electricity prices, which is an essential part of making the transition more affordable.

In Scotland, we are creating the right conditions to realise the opportunities that the just transition to net zero presents for our workers and for our economy. Our “Green Industrial Strategy”, which was published earlier this month, sets out how we are creating an environment that encourages such investment, including in hydrogen. As the member suggests, we are limited in the fiscal levers that we are able to deploy to support those ambitions in Scotland, and we would absolutely welcome further investment by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Just Transition Commission’s report on the future of the Grangemouth industrial cluster. The acting Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Net Zero wrote to the commission’s co-chairs earlier this year to express that.

The Scottish Government considered those proposals in the drafting of the Grangemouth industrial just transition plan, which will be published for consultation in due course. I should note that some of the proposals are far reaching and will require consideration by a wider set of stakeholders regarding practical implementation, particularly across the Grangemouth future industry board. I look forward to further working with the JTC on how that can be achieved.

Our recent consultation highlighted the potential of a switch to clean heating and more energy efficient homes to reduce our exposure to the spikes in fossil fuel prices that have driven the recent surge in energy costs. Any bill that we bring forward will be accompanied by a financial memorandum and all other relevant impact assessments, which will consider those issues and impacts in more detail.

Hydrogen is a key part of our net zero journey, and we remain committed to developing a world-leading green hydrogen sector in Scotland. We continue to engage with hydrogen projects across Scotland, working with them to develop their production, offtake and export capabilities. The levers that are available to the United Kingdom Government, in particular with regard to production, regulation and trade, are critical to ensuring that Scottish companies benefit from domestic and global market opportunities. We continue to work with UK counterparts to ensure that the Scottish hydrogen sector is best positioned to take forward that critical work to support meeting our net zero targets.

I am not in a position to talk in detail about future legislation, nor am I in a position to talk knowledgeably about the issue that the member raises, but I will correspond with him.

I echo David Torrance’s concerns for the workforce and families at Grangemouth. We are supportive of the UK Government matching our long-standing commitment to Grangemouth through its recent announcement of £10 million of additional funding for the Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal. That releases £100 million of combined Government investment over the next 10 years, and it will enhance and protect Grangemouth’s manufacturing and petrochemical cluster to ensure that it continues to be of strategic importance.

Projects such as the Grangemouth sustainable manufacturing campus will aid Grangemouth’s transition to net zero, while the greener Grangemouth programme will deliver activity that is focused on regeneration and community wealth building, alongside skills investment. We are working alongside the UK Government, which has yet to outline the specific focus of its additional funding. We will continue to press it to support fuel security and sustainability.