Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not researched the impact of PET on public and children’s health. The Scottish Government’s policy is to reduce the consumption of single use materials regardless of composition. This is in line with the waste hierarchy, which prioritises reduction and reuse over all other interventions.

The initial, industry-led, phase of the development of the Energy Skills Passport has been supported by £3.7 million of Scottish Government Just Transition funding over financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. This funding has helped to lay the groundwork for a successful Passport, including both cross-sectoral working and the development of a digital solution, leading to the pilot version of the passport launched in January 2025.

We are now looking forward to seeing the Passport develop further, providing more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success going forward will require the Passport to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including UK Government. The Scottish Government will also remain closely involved as a supportive project partner.

The Energy Transition Skills Hub is supported by £4.5 million in Just Transition Fund capital support. The construction phase of the project is expected to conclude later in 2025.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland. This investment will support market certainty, and help create a highly productive, competitive offshore wind economy that supports thousands of new jobs, including in north east Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also invested millions of pounds via the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, including the development and rollout of a digital energy skills passport (£3.7m), investment in a skills hub within the ETZ Skills Campus (£4.5m), support for the National Energy Skills Accelerator (NESA) (£1m), and funding for Net Zero Bottlenecks in Moray (£210k).

We have also convened a ‘Team Scotland’ short-life working group (SLWG) to develop an offshore wind skills action plan at pace which will identify and address gaps in training provision. The SLWG is jointly chaired by the Director of Offshore Wind in the Scottish Government and the CEO of Scottish Renewables, ensuring collaboration between the public sector and industry.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32265 on 6 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led initiative supported by RenewableUK and Offshore Energies UK, with Scottish Government funding also contributing to its development. The initial version, launched in January 2025, is designed to support individual oil and gas workers by helping them identify transferable skills and training needs to transition into key offshore wind roles. The Passport is focused on workforce mobility between sectors and we will continue to engage with industry and other stakeholders, including trade unions, on its potential roles across Scotland's energy sectors.

Employment and industrial relations legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. While this remains the case, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market. There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government specifically regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.

In the absence of powers over employment legislation, through our flagship Fair Work First approach, the Scottish Government is applying Fair Work First criteria to public sector grants, other funding, and contracts where relevant and proportionate to do so, driving up minimum standards in fair work practices across the labour market. It is for individual funders and buyers to monitor delivery of Fair Work First criteria through their funding and contracting arrangements.

No specific assessment has been undertaken of the uptake of the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s (a) offshore oil and gas, (b) offshore wind, and (c) maritime industries.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertake an evaluation of Fair Work First in 2025-26, working with the Fair Work Convention and engaging key stakeholders, including the STUC, to understand how effectively this policy is being delivered and what more can be done to strengthen the approach.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35156 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Taxis and private hire cars (PHCs) are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

While the Scottish Government has responsibility for the overarching legislation, the day to day administration of the licensing regime is devolved to independent licensing authorities – in effect the 32 Scottish local authorities.

All licensing authorities have wide discretion to determine appropriate licensing arrangements according to local needs and circumstances and their own legal advice.

Within this context, the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for individual taxi drivers and/or operators, in conjunction with licensing authorities.

In May 2023 the Scottish Government published updated best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi and PHC operators on the licensing of taxis and PHCs and their drivers.

The guidance was updated with the assistance of a working group that consisted of representatives from the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, various local licensing authorities, taxi and PHC trade representatives and UNITE the Union.

The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/taxi-private-hire-car-licensing-best-practice-licensing-authorities-taxi-private-hire-car-operators-3rd-edition/

Chapter 5 (vehicles) of the guidance provides examples of best practice that independent licensing authorities may wish to consider in relation to security in vehicles, such as the use of CCTV.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35156 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers