Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-31503

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings or discussions it has had with (a) Ineos, (b) Petrochina and (c) Petroineos since 1 January 2020, broken down by date; what matters were raised; which ministers were involved, and whether it will place a copy of the minutes of each meeting in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Information on Ministerial engagements is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at the following web address: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/

The Scottish Government is committed to the proactive release of information. However, for 2020 there has been a delay in the proactive release of Ministerial engagement information due to work prioritisation on the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped that this information will be released in the near future.

Question reference: S5W-31505

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings or discussions it has had since 1 January 2020 with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regarding providing financial assistance to (a) Ineos, (b) Petrochina and (c) Petroineos, broken down by date; which ministers were involved, and whether it will place a copy of the minutes of each meeting in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

The Scottish Government regularly discusses issues with the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spanning matters such as business; industry; science; research & innovation; climate change and energy.

As energy policy is predominantly reserved to the UK Government, we routinely and frequently engage with BEIS at both ministerial and official levels. This engagement covers a broad range of areas in the energy sector – including, energy security, low-carbon and renewable energy, upstream and downstream oil & gas, decarbonisation and matters of general energy policy.

Question reference: S5F-04379

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-31506

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement it has with Project Birch, which is a unit that has been established by the UK Government to assess requests by companies for support during the COVID-19 pandemic; whether it will place details of any discussions it has had with the unit in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), and what information it has regarding how many companies with a presence in Scotland have requested support through this route.

I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 June 2020 on economic matters. The letter was copied to the Chancellor. In relation to Project Birch, it specifically asked for engagement “on the businesses you are working with that have a footprint in Scotland, so that we can bring our collective energy to addressing issues that these businesses might face.” Despite this, there has been no engagement or discussion on Project Birch and Scottish Government holds no information on how many companies with a presence in Scotland have requested support through this route.

Question reference: S5W-31507

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it applies conditions regarding (a) environmental standards and (b) reducing emissions to any funding provided to companies seeking support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our immediate attention has been on health and on ensuring that our businesses remain intact. However, in our response to the recent Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, we set out our commitment to work in partnership with businesses to best align COVID support with our long-term climate, environmental, economic and social goals.

This response flagged that we will continue to explore bespoke approaches that link business support with climate change objectives, building on our experience with Fair Work and emphasising the need to work in partnership with businesses.

The issue of conditionality of business support can be challenging, but we are committed to looking at how we can use all our levers to support a recovery to a greener, fairer, more equal country. For example, we would expect any support for large emitters to be contingent on having credible, robust transition plans that align with Scotland’s climate change ambition.

We are listening to stakeholders calling for a green recovery and calls for “green strings” to be applied to government support, and would encourage these organisations to propose how this would be done in practice.

Question reference: S5F-04353

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04331

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 September 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04305

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 August 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04280

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-30362

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in light of Scottish Renewables' call to unlock the benefits of shovel-ready renewable energy projects as part of the recovery to the COVID-19 crisis; what discussions it has had with the UK Government about progressing this, and what projects it has identified.

Renewable projects provide us with a major investment opportunity which can support a green economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Ensuring that shovel ready projects are able to deliver quickly will also help us make progress towards our vital net zero commitment. We have identified that as of March 2020, there was 1.3 GW of renewable generation capacity in construction, 7.7 GW of capacity awaiting construction (with planning permission or consent granted), and an additional 4.5 GW in the planning system.

Along with Scottish Renewables, the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery has also highlighted the importance of renewable projects in Scotland’s response to Covid. Our response to its report, published on 5 August, laid out a wide range of actions that we will take to support a green recovery. This includes reviewing aspects of the planning process and examining the scope for changes to regulations in order to build capacity and deal more quickly with complex applications. It also details the funding available through a range of mechanisms to support green infrastructure, including the launch of our Green Investment Portfolio, which identifies £3 billion of investable projects over the coming three years.

We continue to engage with the UK Government and other UK-wide institutions to ensure that, in areas where devolved and reserved powers interact, that they act to support our ambition. For example, we are working with Scotland’s energy network owners to ensure that we have a clear, evidence-based set of regulatory requirements for the development of those networks which will be essential to the connection and operation of shovel ready projects. We will also continue to engage with UK Government and Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, to ensure that these can be delivered.

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