Chamber and committees

The Climate Change Plan Advisory Group has undergone 4 of 7 plenary meetings and has so far elicited wide ranging input from diverse stakeholders into the next draft Climate Change Plan. This input includes on topics such as our vision for the future of Scotland, just transition work and energy use, with a Sub- Group meeting on the topic of heat in buildings planned in September.

The Scottish Government will produce an Outcomes Report regarding the policy outputs from the Climate Change Plan Advisory Group after the final meeting in October 2023. Policy outcomes from the group will be used to inform development of the upcoming draft Climate Change Plan.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail and Stena Line. ScotRail advises that it regularly meets with Stena Line to review potential service changes and ensure tickets are available on rail retail systems. Details of these tickets can be found via Rail & Sail to Ireland | Stena Line , which also provides contact details for Stena Line for further information.

The Scottish Government will produce an Outcomes Report regarding the policy outputs from the Climate Change Plan Advisory Group after the final meeting in October 2023. Policy outcomes from the group will also be used to inform development of the upcoming draft Climate Change Plan.

Significant public consultation and stakeholder engagement was undertaken as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in December 2022. STPR2 will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme in Scotland over the next 20 years (2022-2042) and will help to deliver the vision, priorities and outcomes for transport set out in the National Transport Strategy (NTS2). Within this there is a recommendation for a review of the upgrade or relocation of Stranraer rail station to be undertaken. Stakeholder engagement and public consultation were key elements of this review, including a three-month public consultation on the draft recommendations between January and April 2022. A summary report detailing the outcomes of this exercise was produced alongside an analysis report setting out how responses were used to inform the appraisal process. STPR2 Recommendation 40 includes measures to improve access to Stranraer and ports at Cairnryan; to encourage greater use of public transport and support wider town regeneration proposals, this recommendation also includes a review of the upgrade or relocation of Stranraer rail station.

Transport Scotland has conducted extensive analysis of the carbon benefits of transport modal shift in Scotland. However, there has been no flow-specific analysis on the Edinburgh/Glasgow to Belfast corridor.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report detailing offshore workers’ demands for a just energy transition and agrees that listening to and acting on recommendations from workers is critical to ensure a Just Transition.

We must ensure a fair and just transition for our skilled offshore workers and that is why we have provided £100,000 in funding to the STUC to ensure workers’ voices are at the heart of our just transition planning.

The recommendations provided within this report are being carefully considered as part of the work to finalise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP).

Regular engagement takes place with the COSLA Environment and Economy policy board. Most recently this included presenting a paper to the board on 23 June providing an update on local authorities progress with their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES). LHEES will provide area-based plans for decarbonising all buildings in a local authority area, including those owned by local authorities, in line with net zero commitments, which support and guide capital investment (both public and private) over the longer term. The cost of decarbonising local authority buildings specifically has not arisen as part of these discussions, but LHEES will set out what is required to achieve this when they are published by the local authorities. Local authorities are required to publish their first LHEES by the end of 2023, and this duty reinforces the wider duty on public bodies to contribute to the delivery of our national statutory targets to reduce emissions.

To support the decarbonisation of local authority buildings, the Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund has been launched in partnership with Salix offering up to £20 million in grants to support local authorities, as well as universities and arm’s-length external organisations to decarbonise their buildings. The funding forms part of the £200 million already committed to the public sector for energy efficiency and renewable heating over the next five years - part of the wider plan to spend £1.8 billion in this current parliamentary session on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings.

More widely, in our Heat in Buildings Strategy the Scottish Government committed to “work with COSLA to strengthen and integrate governance arrangements on heat and energy efficiency, to ensure effective delivery over the long term.” A liaison role was created in 2022 to provide capacity within COSLA to engage across the Heat in Buildings programme and embed a partnership approach. This resulted in the establishment of the Heat in Buildings Local Government Oversight group, which meets on a regular basis to provide a forum for dialog between relevant Scottish Government and COSLA officials on the Heat in Buildings programme and wider heat transition.

As stated in response to S6W-19919, S6W-19920, S6W-19921, S6W-19922 and S6W-19923 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion.

Costs will be dependent on the route taken to decarbonising buildings, including whether they connect to a heat network or install individual heating solutions, and the depth of energy efficiency retrofit required.

An Estate Strategy and Carbon Management Plan for core Scottish Government buildings is currently under development to support our asset planning and the future investment decisions required to deliver our Heat in Building Strategy targets and our wider Net Zero commitments.

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

As stated in response to S6W-19919 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion. We will work in partnership with the wider public sector to build on Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies which local authorities are currently developing, to fully understand the costs associated with transitioning to zero direct emission heating systems across the public estate.

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

As stated in response to S6W-19919 and S6W-19920 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion.

The cost of decarbonising the NHS will vary amongst individual Health Boards and types of property as there is significant variety in the size of individual buildings across the Estate. It is anticipated that many of the interventions required will result in long term savings and we will work with NHS Boards to estimate the high-level costs of key initiatives that are of national significance.

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