Chamber and committees

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 This provision was superseded by the introduction of the red, amber and green lists for risk assessment, as all arrivals from amber list countries were required to isolate at home.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.

Our Energy Strategy, published in 2017, reiterated the Scottish Government’s continued opposition to new nuclear stations based on current technologies, and our determination instead to continue developing Scotland’s huge renewable resource while also promoting storage and energy efficiency.

The Strategy made clear our awareness of new technologies, such as Small Modular Reactors, and our duty to assess them as required. In the meantime, however, this particular technology remains unproven, and there are no plans or propositions for its development in Scotland.

The draft Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that the Scottish Government will legislate to require the installation of zero emissions heating systems in existing buildings, subject to the Scottish Parliament having devolved competence to do so.

The draft Strategy proposes that such legislation would begin to take effect from 2025, with the intention that all building owners are regulated to meet the requirement for zero emissions heating by 2045.

The exact phasing and operation of the proposed regulations is still to be determined, but as set out in the draft Strategy, and where within competence , could include requiring certain buildings to install zero emissions heating systems earlier than 2045. This may include those buildings using high emissions fuels (which are more prevalent in off-gas grid areas), or those buildings which reach a natural trigger point (such as the replacement of an existing fossil fuel heating system).

The Scottish Government plans to consult on detailed proposals on this issue in 2022.

The following data was collected via energy performance certificates (EPCs) submitted for all new build completions in Scotland since 2016. This indicative data is based on analysis of new build EPC records lodged on the EPC register between Q1 2016 and Q4 2020. A total of 92,900 EPC records were analysed.

Numbers in the tables have been rounded to the nearest ten. This is the best currently available data:

There are currently 49 members of Scottish government staff in specific COP26 posts, with 11 further specific posts under recruitment. A wide range of other staff members across the Scottish Government contribute a percentage of their time to working on COP26.

The Scottish Government has not carried out specific analysis on this issue.

There are complexities and a variety of international travel possibilities within the global international oil and gas industry. Risk of Covid infection for workers travelling to and from installations on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) cannot be attributed to any single factor, but a comprehensive range of infection control measures has been implemented to reduce this to as low as reasonably practicable.

The regulation of occupational health and safety is reserved to the UK Government. Statutory responsibilities for enforcement in the offshore oil and gas industry lies with the Health and Safety Executive.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 employers have a statutory duty to protect the health and safety of their employees, to undertake appropriate risk assessments and to put in place appropriate mitigations.

The Scottish Government has no statutory involvement in workplace health and safety regulation.

The Scottish Government looks forward to a successful COP26 in November that delivers increased global ambition to net zero in a way that is fair and just. Scottish Ministers have engaged widely on COP26, and will continue to do so in the run up to, during and after the conference.

Between 1 January 2020 and 20 July 2021, all Scottish Ministers (excluding the First Minister) attended a total of 36 meetings in relation to COP26. Between 1 January 2020 and 28 July 2021, the First Minister attended 4 meetings in relation to COP26. The majority of meetings included in these figures are external engagements, including meetings between the previous Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change And Land Reform Ms. Cunningham and the UK Government. Whilst meetings referenced here include those with COP26 as a specified focus of the engagement, a significant amount of climate- related Ministerial meetings since Glasgow was announced as the COP26 host city are likely to have included discussions of COP26 to some extent.

The Scottish Government works with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), NatureScot, fisheries boards and trusts, and other stakeholders to protect the natural environment and wildlife from water shortages.

Our River Basin Management Plans identify areas in Scotland already impacted by abstractions and set out objectives to improve those watercourses. SEPA licences and regulates abstractions to ensure that water use does not exceed the available capacity. At times of water scarcity, SEPA has the powers to temporarily stop abstraction, to protect the environment.

The National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how SEPA and other key stakeholders will prepare and respond to water shortages. SEPA works closely with NatureScot and other environmental organisations to provide advice and information on water scarcity so they can act to protect wildlife.

We have not made an assessment of this kind. However, our work to refresh Scotland’s Energy Strategy, due to begin later this year, will include consideration of such aspects across the energy sector as a whole.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01690 on
‎ 16 August 2021. 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