Chamber and committees

Oil and gas licensing is a matter that is reserved to UK Government. In line with the Scottish Government’s evidence-led approach to policy development, we have completed a programme of work and analysis to better understand Scotland’s energy requirements as we transition to net zero and how this aligns with our climate change targets. Through our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, we have set out a clear pathway to deliver on global commitments and capitalise on the enormous opportunities offered by becoming a net zero economy. Our focus must be meeting our energy security needs, reducing emissions and ensuring a just transition for our oil and gas workforce as North Sea resources decline.

We continue to engage with the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance as part of a wider programme of analysis and engagement with a range of organisations and stakeholders.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19952 on 9 August 2023, lodged by Liam Kerr. 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

We are investing £1.8 billion in this Parliamentary term on zero direct emission heating and energy efficiency solutions. Building on this, the Green Heat Finance Taskforce is continuing with its work to explore which financing and funding products offer the greatest potential for development at scale in Scotland to help finance our heating transition, in line with our net zero targets. The Taskforce will shortly publish their Part 1 Report which will focus primarily on options for individual property owners, while a second report later in the year will cover options for communal solutions that can support multiple properties. These reports will inform development of our medium to longer term strategic financing and funding plans for heat.

The pace of the Heat in Buildings transition requires a substantial growth in supply chains, particularly in the availability of skilled heating and energy efficiency installers and we continue to work with the sector to ensure the right mix of skills are in place at the scale needed across Scotland to successfully meet our ambitions. We publish a progress report against our Heat in Buildings Strategy annually – the latest update is available here: Heat in Buildings Strategy: 2022 update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Working with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council, Skills Development Scotland is leading two CESAP Pathfinder projects to enable a better understanding of the complex green skills landscape and explore the relationship between future demand and existing provision. One of those projects is focused on the decarbonisation of domestic and commercial heating and the findings will be published once the pathfinder concludes.

We are committed to a fair and managed transition to net zero and are developing Just Transition Plans for key sectors across Scotland. This includes a plan for the Built Environment and Construction, to ensure the economic and social opportunities of the transition to net zero are captured and the risks associated with rapid structural change are mitigated.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report detailing offshore workers’ demands for a just energy transition and agrees that listening to and acting on recommendations from workers is critical to ensure a Just Transition.

We must ensure a fair and just transition for our skilled offshore workers and that is why we have provided £100,000 in funding to the STUC to ensure workers’ voices are at the heart of our just transition planning.

The recommendations provided within this report are being carefully considered as part of the work to finalise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19549 on 9 August 2023. 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

We are committed to a just transition that supports those employed in oil and gas and will continue to work with the sector to remove barriers and seize opportunities offered by the renewable sectors – with no person or region left behind. The Just Transition Fund has already supported an £11 million package of skills projects. In addition, through the Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund in the North East and Moray, which has already supported 45 community projects, and the Pilot Community Climate Assembly project, communities and individuals in the region are being actively engaged in discussions on climate action, and empowered to explore what a just transition means for them. Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan was developed through extensive engagement with industry, trade unions, communities and workers and we will continue to engage with local communities on the importance of a just and fair transition.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) article; "Green jobs" update, current and upcoming work: March 2023, defined a green jobs as:

"Employment in an activity that contributes to protecting or restoring the environment, including those that mitigate or adapt to climate change."

We await a further ONS publication, later this year, which will provide detail on their research and an estimate of green job numbers.

The Green Jobs Fund is a five year and up to £100 million capital fund, which will support businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy. The support provided by the fund aims to create green employment through investment in equipment, premises, research and development.

When this fund was launched in 2021, green jobs were defined as:

• Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit or conserve natural resources.
• Jobs in which workers' duties involve making their establishment's production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.

Between the Enterprise Agencies and Scottish Ministers, 94 separate projects are being supported, throughout Scotland, with grant funding of up to £24.6 million through the Green Jobs Fund.

Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated this fund will support up to 4,730 full time jobs over the life of the individual project.

Regular engagement takes place with the COSLA Environment and Economy policy board. Most recently this included presenting a paper to the board on 23 June providing an update on local authorities progress with their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES). LHEES will provide area-based plans for decarbonising all buildings in a local authority area, including those owned by local authorities, in line with net zero commitments, which support and guide capital investment (both public and private) over the longer term. The cost of decarbonising local authority buildings specifically has not arisen as part of these discussions, but LHEES will set out what is required to achieve this when they are published by the local authorities. Local authorities are required to publish their first LHEES by the end of 2023, and this duty reinforces the wider duty on public bodies to contribute to the delivery of our national statutory targets to reduce emissions.

To support the decarbonisation of local authority buildings, the Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund has been launched in partnership with Salix offering up to £20 million in grants to support local authorities, as well as universities and arm’s-length external organisations to decarbonise their buildings. The funding forms part of the £200 million already committed to the public sector for energy efficiency and renewable heating over the next five years - part of the wider plan to spend £1.8 billion in this current parliamentary session on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings.

More widely, in our Heat in Buildings Strategy the Scottish Government committed to “work with COSLA to strengthen and integrate governance arrangements on heat and energy efficiency, to ensure effective delivery over the long term.” A liaison role was created in 2022 to provide capacity within COSLA to engage across the Heat in Buildings programme and embed a partnership approach. This resulted in the establishment of the Heat in Buildings Local Government Oversight group, which meets on a regular basis to provide a forum for dialog between relevant Scottish Government and COSLA officials on the Heat in Buildings programme and wider heat transition.

The number of visiting specialist teachers is recorded in September of each year as part of the teacher census. Data for 2023 is not yet available. Visiting specialists are centrally employed by local authorities and data on the school sector in which they work is not collected in the teacher census.

Statistics on centrally employed visiting specialists at Scotland level are available in Table 5.2 of the teacher census supplementary statistics: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

As stated in response to S6W-19919 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion. We will work in partnership with the wider public sector to build on Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies which local authorities are currently developing, to fully understand the costs associated with transitioning to zero direct emission heating systems across the public estate.

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