Chamber and committees

Actions on loss and damage can either avert, minimise or address loss and damage; meaning we can prevent climate impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the severity of climate impacts through adaptative measures or remedy the harm that has been caused. The Scottish Government funding on loss and damage is focused on the latter, that is, addressing the losses and damages by remedying the harm that communities are suffering.

The Scottish Government funding is focused on addressing loss and damage because partner countries have continually stressed that this is an underfunded and underacknowledged area. But our funding also, in addition, lessens future potential impacts. For example following the devastating impacts of Storm Ana and Cyclone Gombe in Malawi, the Scottish Government’s funding has supported the training of 155 artisans in the construction of safer housing using low to medium cost materials. It is expected that, with the advanced knowledge and skill, the artisans will support community members to construct more resilient homes, better able to withstand future climate shocks.

There are 586 co-operatives and 195 employee owned businesses in Scotland. Data on these businesses is not collected on a per local authority basis.

Levels of financial support from Co-operative Development Scotland to co-operatives and employee owned businesses in North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk since 2021 is displayed in the following table.

In 2019, the £500 million investment in bus included reallocation of roadspace on the Glasgow motorway network. The design development and business case work to support infrastructure to improve bus journey time reliability on the M8 through Glasgow and also on the M77 and M80, is currently moving towards completion.

Until this work is completed it is not possible to confirm the exact level of investment that will be required.

There is a job profile created for each individual role and this is used to assess the suitability of the candidates.

Job profiles are designed to attract the best people for the roles - high quality candidates with specialist knowledge and qualifications, where required, in relation to specific roles such as Safety and Audit and Risk. It is also important to us that candidates possess strong governance, diversity and leadership skills and a knowledge of constitutional devolution and how it affects public services in Scotland.

The current non-executive directors of Scottish Rail Holdings (SRH) Board were appointed on an interim basis to 31 March 2023. The SRH Board non-executive appointments are non-regulated and there is no stipulation of specific appointment length detailed within the Framework Agreement, however going forward it is anticipated that terms for non-interim appointments will be for up to three years.

The standard tenure of the executive members of the SRH Board is permanent.

We are now considering the most recent inflationary trajectory over the next 12-18 months and are working on a Pay Strategy for 2023-24 in collaboration with stakeholders. This will set out key principles and recognise the link between pay, public service reform and workforce. We expect to publish the strategy by the end of March 2023.

Oil and gas exploration and production, including licensing and climate compatibility, remains reserved to the UK Government.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, published in January, sets out clearly that the North Sea basin is mature and production will inevitably decline. I have been clear about our intention to move away from a policy of unlimited extraction, even if the North Sea was not a declining resource. We need a new plan for Scotland’s energy system, the ESJTP seeks to do this.

Independent analysis on the energy system and just transition, published this month, includes a detailed assessment of oil and gas production in Scotland. Our forthcoming Climate Change Plan for Scotland, a draft of which is due in November, will set out our pathway to meeting our emissions reductions targets to 2040 alongside the costs and benefits of policies within the plan.

A voluntary register of beekeepers ‘BeeBase’ is maintained by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit and which the Scottish Government pay an annual contribution to have access. As registration to ‘BeeBase’ is entirely voluntary, it is important to note that it is a live database and does not hold any historic datasets and relies on its users to maintain, update, and delete old records.

Furthermore, the information is held by county, rather than local authority area.

Table 1. Number of Registered Beekeepers in Scotland per Country on the ‘BeeBase’ Database, as of 10 March 2023.

As per previous Climate Change plans, it must contain policies and proposals, by sector, for meeting the economy wide annual emissions reduction targets for each year. The Plan will also set out for the first time the costs and benefits (including financial cost, emissions and jobs) of the policies it contains, as well as setting out how it will affect different sectors of the Scottish economy and different regions in Scotland.