Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials are currently identifying representatives according to the draft terms of reference and will proactively publish the agreed membership in due course. There may also be opportunity to extend the participants list further as the meetings progress if required.

The terms of reference are in draft format and will not be finalised and agreed until following the first meeting of the Taskforce. The Scottish Government will proactively publish the agreed terms of reference in due course.

The draft terms of reference sets out its proposed scope on a series of specific issues, though is not intended as a fully inclusive list, as further issues may surface in the context of discussion. Nonetheless, the existing list of identified issues reflect clear themes around Culture and Leadership, Wellbeing, Attraction, Education and Development, and Retention – all in aid of the development of a sustainable workforce that enables the implementation of safe staffing legislation.

I have engaged with a wide breadth of stakeholders in the offshore energy sector during this period, in the North East of Scotland and across Scotland. Regarding formal meetings with companies in the North East Scotland region I had the following formal meetings:

12 October 2022 - St Fergus Terminal /Segal Terminal Site Tour which included meeting with St Fergus field visit with North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP), Storegga and Shell attending 26 October 2022 - OEUK UK1 March 2023 - Decom North Sea meeting.

This list is not exhaustive of all the engagement I have with offshore energy companies, I speak with companies and stakeholders at all the events that I attend and take part in. Some of the stakeholder events I attended in this time period include:

2 November 2022 - Speaking at Supporting Scotland's Renewable Energy Supply Chain, Scottish Renewables 22 November 2022 – Speaking at the event International Scotland Report, Fraser of Allander Institute and CMS Partners Event 22 November 2022 – Visit to NESCOL Altens 30 November 2022 – Meeting with the North Sea Transition Forum 10 October 2022 – SEE - Maximising Scotland’s Energy Potential: Achieving a Just Transition Conference 8 December 2022 – OEUK Awards Ceremony

As the member will know, rail accessibility is reserved to the UK Government. However, Transport Scotland continues to develop opportunities, where possible, to deliver accessibility improvements within larger projects, such as at Carstairs, and additionally at Pitlochry, Aviemore, Kingussie and Nairn stations.

A list of railway stations in Scotland, including accessibility categorisation, is available on the ScotRail website. https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/20221123/vW4AP--fp0CW1OEJTomvU8Old-7vG-_dxpytivxd8kA/in429_atp_station-accessibility_info_april_2022.v5.pdf

Since ScotRail’s publication of this information, Croy and Johnstone have been made fully accessible and two new fully accessible stations were opened at Reston and Inverness Airport. Of the 361 Scottish Stations, 181 have step free access to one platform and 42 have no step free access.

We will consult with stakeholders and the public this year to gather and consider their views on future changes to speed limit policies and speed management measures.

The Scottish Government will look to publish the findings and conclusions thereafter.

In Scotland the speed limit for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) in built up areas is 30 mph. On single carriageway it is 40 mph, dual carriageways is 50 mph and on motorways 60 mph.

In addition, the HGV speed limit on single carriageway sections of the A9 between Perth and Inverness was raised to 50 mph on 28 October 2014.

HGV speed limit policy is being considered as part of the National Speed Management Review, later this year we will consult with stakeholders and the public to gather and consider their views on future changes to speed limit policies and speed management measures.

Analysis in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, published in December 2021, shows that on-the-go drinks purchases are largely driven by consumer convenience, and that switching to large containers in this segment of the market is unlikely.

There are other deciding factors for consumers, such as practicality, convenience, brand preference and presentation of the product. This specific issue was examined by the ECCL Committee in 2019, see Report on the proposed draft Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 (azureedge.net) .

Additionally, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) already operates in over 50 other countries and territories around the world. Evidence from these other deposit return schemes indicates that any effect on product or format switching is small, and it is rare that this can only be attributed to DRS.

Everyone who pays a deposit on a drinks container will be able to reclaim that deposit in full therefore that should not have an impact on inflation. In line with the wishes of business, Scotland’s DRS is an industry-run scheme. It is for drinks producers and retailers to deliver the most efficient scheme possible. As an example of this, in December 2022 Circularity Scotland published new producer fees that are 8%, 30% and 40% lower than originally planned for glass, PET plastic and metal containers respectively.

Where there is a product recall, we would expect current procedures to apply with the product being recovered intact to the producer who would manage the destruction as production waste or recycling.

Deposits and product costs would be reimbursed by the producer to the retailer and the producer will adjust their 'placed on market' report to Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL) by reporting the volume of product they have ‘placed on market’ via a self service portal. This allows CSL to calculate deposits and producer fees resulting in a refund of deposits and producer fees to the producer.

Private investment resulting from the Memorandum of Understanding will support woodland expansion, peatland restoration and enhancement of other habitats. It will pay for all capital costs, though we anticipate that land managers involved will also apply to existing grant schemes such as the Forestry Grant Scheme.

Rather than extracting wealth, this partnership will deliver responsible investment in both the pilot project areas and Scotland more widely.

Financial matters relating to the pilot cannot be determined until detailed investment cases for projects have been discussed and produced with land managers.