Chamber and committees

The proposals that we set out in our consultation sought to design a new scheme within the £4 million cost of the existing scheme. The proposed scheme sought to remove some of the current criteria, in particular the 1999 qualification date. The proposed £75,000 represents the threshold below which charities can be offered full exemption within the current cost.

I am aware of the important role all charities, including places of worship, play in our communities. I have had a large number of representations on this point and will take them into account when I make my final decisions on the income thresholds and the overall cost of the scheme which I hope to do soon.

To support local authorities in introducing food waste collections as required by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, Zero Waste Scotland provided a £20 million fund. That fund is now fully committed, and awards have been made as set out in the following table.

*The total is slightly over £20 million due to the refinement of spending profile between initial bids and final awards

The Scottish Government's policy is that, in an independent Scotland, the decommissioning costs of Scotland's three non-operational civil nuclear sites (Dounreay, Hunterston A and Chapelcross) will continue to be met from the public purse. Following independence, the precise division of civil nuclear assets and liabilities will be subject to detailed negotiation between the Scottish and Westminster Governments, working together constructively in the best interests of the people of Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom, as set out in the Edinburgh Agreement. These negotiations will include the future arrangements for the responsibilities and functions discharged by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The administrative costs of the authority are a small fraction of the overall costs of nuclear decommissioning.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-21293 on 9 June 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Decommissioning North Sea infrastructure will require significant investment by the industry, and a contribution in the form of tax relief from the government – however, the overall cost should be viewed in the context of the vast reserves estimated to remain in the North Sea.

Most estimates suggest that the total cost of decommissioning activity in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) could be between £30 billion and £40 billion (in today’s prices) over the lifetime of the UKCS production. However, it is estimated that up to 24 billion barrels of oil and gas are still to be recovered from the North Sea, with a potential wholesale value of up to £1.5 trillion. This means that, by value, over half the North Sea’s reserves remain which provides huge opportunities for both the industry and for Scotland.

In developing infrastructure and capability for successful decommissioning we will strengthen Scotland’s comparative advantage and position as world leader in this sector. If managed successfully, the North Sea oil and gas industry has the potential to become an international leader for decommissioning activity and expertise.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-21293 on 9 June 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Nuclear Liabilities Fund is a Scottish registered company owned by the Nuclear Trust, which is a public trust under Scots law. The Nuclear Liabilities Fund holds investments for the purpose of providing funding to meet certain waste management costs and, in due course, the decommissioning liabilities of the eight nuclear power stations run by EdF Energy. The proportion of the assets that is held to provide for these costs for the two Scottish EdF sites, Torness and Hunterston B, would continue to be set aside for that purpose in the event of independence. It would be a matter for negotiation between the Scottish Government and the government of the rest of the UK what institutional arrangements would be put in place for the trust and fund following independence.

The strength of the civil nuclear supply chain in Scotland is underpinned by our world-class engineering expertise, notably at Doosan Babcock’s Renfrew operation and by the continuing pipeline of work that comes from Scotland’s two operating nuclear stations at Hunterston B and Torness and three non-operational sites at Dounreay, Hunterston A and Chapelcross.

The policy of the Scottish Government is clear; there will be no nuclear new capacity built in Scotland irrespective of the result of the referendum. But, subject to strict safety requirements being met, we would not oppose extending the operating life of Scotland’s existing nuclear stations in order to maintain security of supply over the next decade while the transition to renewables and cleaner thermal generation takes place.

In an independent Scotland the decommissioning costs of Scotland's three non-operational sites (Dounreay, Hunterston A and Chapelcross) will continue to be met from the public purse, which will continue to support the supply chain to these sites.

The Green Investment Bank was established with funding from the Fossil Fuel Levy which was intended to support the development of renewables. We expect these funds to continue to be available across the UK to support renewables and green projects including in an independent Scotland.

The future remit and operational mandate of the Green Investment Bank within an independent Scotland would be subject to discussions with Whitehall.

Linking production subsidies to population is a misleading comparison. Scotland’s share is related not to population size but to the huge amount of clean power produced here. Scottish renewable energy represents the most cost-effective means for the rest of the UK to meet its renewable energy commitments, consistently delivering between a third and two-fifths of the UK’s total renewable electricity generation, in return for around a quarter of the total subsidy. Moreover many major schemes, consented and proposed, which are or will be in receipt of subsidy or financial support are located elsewhere in the UK.

As set out in Scotland’s Future, retention of the single GB-wide market for electricity and gas, with customers throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK meeting costs on an equitable basis through their energy bills, will help deliver stable prices and energy security both north and south of the border.