Chamber and committees

a) Scottish Government set targets for forest creation and for native woodland creation within that. In the current year, 2021, the woodland creation target is 13500 ha and of this 4000 ha will be new native woodlands. Scottish government and its agency Scottish. , do not pre-determine the type of trees that will be planted by landowners that are supported by the Forestry Grant Scheme. There are a number of grant options provided for applicants and landowners in order to help achieve Scottish Government targets and policy priorities. For example, a grant option is provided to enable applicants to create new native woodlands in order to promote biodiversity and meet the targets under the Biodiversity Strategy.

The FGS does not guide applicant’s schemes based on carbon sequestration and species choice. Each scheme is guided by the principles of sustainable forest management as set out in the UK Forestry Standard.

The existing forestry grant scheme works to support the three principle objectives of Scotland’s Forestry Strategy. As of May 2021, conifer and diverse conifers accounted for 58% of the woodland creation programme, broadleaves and small farm woods, 4%, native broadleaf woodlands including native Scots pine, 32% and natural regeneration, 6%.

The Scottish Government is working with key business sectors, Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and other stakeholders to make sure water is used efficiently through conservation measures.

We continue to invest in the public network, reducing leakage and increasing water efficiency which helps conserve water in the environment, and we are working to develop technologies and other approaches to enhance resilience. Scottish Water encourages its customers to use water efficiently. In the last year alone, Scottish Water Business Stream has helped its business customers save over £14 million through water efficiency savings, and since 2008 it has saved £213 million and conserved more than 38 billion litres of water.

Our policies continue to support suitable hydrogen projects and proposals of smaller scale Schemes of this funding scale may fall under the banner of local energy systems, in which case support may be available through:

• CARES which may be able to provide funding support: https://www.localenergy.scot/funding/ . This scheme has supported projects such as the Huntly hydrogen project in the north east: https://www.localenergy.scot/projects-and-case-studies/case-studies/community-owned/huntly-hydrogen
• The Local Energy Systems Scottish Industry network (LESSIN) can also direct towards funding whilst providing other types of support - https://es.catapult.org.uk/impact/projects/local-energy-systems-scottish-industry-network/

Where there is clear economic benefit (jobs, regional growth etc.) and a contribution to net zero and in particular Scottish Enterprise’s Hydrogen Economy national programme ambitions, Scottish Enterprise’s place team may be able to become involved as a partner on projects and provide support for certain activities such as strategy development, market and economic research, meetings and events, facilitation of workshops & appraisals

Any prospective hydrogen production project owners in the North East are also encouraged to contact Scottish Enterprise’s hydrogen economy national programme team ( [email protected] ) so that they are aware of the project and can connect it to other relevant projects, companies and initiatives.

If the project involves buses (including mini-buses for smaller projects), Transport Scotland’s Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge fund ( https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/scottish-zero-emission-bus-challenge-fund/ ) could help with the cost of the vehicles, but also associated infrastructure (e.g. hydrogen refuelling stations at a very attractive 85% intervention rate).

Additionally, the Hydrogen Policy Statement published on the 21 December 2020 sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for Scotland to become a leading Hydrogen Nation with an ambition to generate 5GW’s of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030, committing to £100 million funding to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Scotland over the next five years.

The framework provided by the Hydrogen Policy Statement is informing the development of a Hydrogen Action Plan in 2021 which will provide further detail on the planned approach and necessary actions to assist the growth of a Scottish hydrogen economy.

In the development of the Hydrogen Action Plan, the Scottish Government is considering a wide range of options and actions to provide financial support to companies investing in the Scottish hydrogen sector to assist the Government in meeting the ambition to reach 5GW’s of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030 as set out in the Hydrogen Policy Statement.

Oil and gas workers returning from work overseas are not eligible for the exemption for offshore work on the UK continental shelf, and must comply with rules for international travel depending on the risk assessment of the country they have travelled from and their own residence and vaccination status. Travellers from green list countries and eligible fully vaccinated travellers from amber list countries are not required to isolate on arrival in Scotland. Other travellers from amber list countries must isolate at home or in their own accommodation. As the answer to question S6W-00963 set out, there is no exemption for offshore workers travelling from red list countries who must isolate in a designated managed isolation hotel. Therefore, offshore workers returning from work overseas will either not be required to isolate or will isolate at home unless they have travelled from a red list country.

Exemptions from managed isolation for essential activity related to supply chains, UK critical infrastructure and international obligations were considered prior to introduction of the policy on 15 February 2021 and have been reviewed regularly throughout. Quarantine arrangements for offshore workers are the same across the UK.

Prior to the national change in policy on international travel restrictions on 17 May, discussions on the scope of the exemption for offshore workers took place with sector bodies and delivery partners including Oil and Gas UK and the UK Border Force. This resulted in an amendment to regulations effective from 25 February 2021 to permit isolation at home for workers returning from offshore activity in the Exclusive Economic Zone of other countries in the North Sea. This provision was superseded by the introduction of the red, amber and green lists for risk assessment, as all arrivals from amber list countries were required to isolate at home.

No change to policy is being considered in relation to managed quarantine for oil and gas workers returning from work overseas, which applies only to arrivals from red list countries, and therefore no further engagement is planned on that question. Maintaining the highest level of protection for red list countries where variants of concern are known or assessed to be in community transmission is essential to guard against importation of variants of the virus with antibody resistance characteristics that could undermine progress made through vaccination programmes in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

Although there is no fixed definition of what a hard to treat home is, we estimate that the average cost of upgrading an off-gas grid property with an initial EPC rating between Band E and Band G to an EPC Band C could be in the region of £17,000.

As set out in our draft Heat in Buildings Strategy, the cost for an individual dwelling can differ from this average depending on the building type, materials, existing levels of energy efficiency and type of heating systems being replaced.

The Scottish Government, through Home Energy Scotland (HES), already provides free, impartial advice to households both on and off the gas grid on how to decarbonise the energy supply of their homes. This includes a specialist home renewables advice service.

Through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) loan and cashback scheme, we provide interest-free loans of up to £17,500 for renewable measures with an additional 75%, up to £7500 cashback for homeowners to replace fossil fuel heating systems with renewable heating systems.

All households can also access support through the Green Homes Network which allows them to learn from the experience of others who have already installed measures, and the Renewable Installer Finder Tool which helps identify installers and suppliers in their area.

Some owner-occupiers may also be eligible for support via our fully-funded national energy efficiency/fuel poverty scheme - Warmer Homes Scotland – which is providing increasing numbers of renewable heating systems particularly to off-gas grid homes.

These Scottish Government-funded advice and support schemes can be accessed through Home Energy Scotland, run by the Energy Saving Trust.

The Scottish Government, through Home Energy Scotland (HES), already provides free, impartial advice to households both on and off the gas grid on how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

Additionally, through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) loan and cashback scheme, we provide interest-free loans of up to £15,000 with an additional 40% cashback up to a total value of £6,000, for homeowners to install energy efficiency measures in order to improve the EPC rating of their property.

Some owner-occupiers may also be eligible for support via our fully-funded energy efficiency/fuel poverty schemes – Warmer Homes Scotland or the local authority Area-Based Schemes.

All these Scottish Government-funded advice and support schemes can be accessed through Home Energy Scotland, run by the Energy Saving Trust.

On the 22 December 2020, the Scottish Government published research that assessed the suitability of low carbon heating technologies in residential buildings in Scotland. It found that , of the 507,000 homes off the gas network, around 105,000 would require a low carbon heating technology other than a heat pump.

Table 1: Number of homes located away from the gas grid, not suitable for heat pump technologies,

We are currently analysing responses to the consultation. We will publish the final Heat in Buildings Strategy in due course, which will include our response to the consultation.

On the 22 December 2020, the Scottish Government published research that assessed the suitability of low carbon heating technologies in residential buildings in Scotland. It found that, of the 507,000 homes off-the gas network, 402,000 would be suitable for some form of heat pump. (See Table 1)

Table 1: Number of homes located away from the gas grid, by suitability for heat pump technologies 1