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If we were falling behind where the plan might be suggesting that we should be, would a section 36 report be needed at the midway point?

My declaration is the same as Jackie Dunbar’s. At the start of the current session of Parliament, I was a councillor at Aberdeen City Council.

You say that you have a small team. Is it about working on organisational change as opposed to geographical change, or is it a bit of both?

As far as the carbon budgets are concerned, there will be a lot to do over the next five years.

It gives us a steer. Thank you.

My questions go back to reporting. The first, which is for Cornilius Chikwama, is about section 36 reports. If the Government misses a target now, it has to issue a section 36 report about how it will get back on target. I guess that, when we move to a five-year cycle instead of annual targets, officially a section 36 report should come out only every five years if a target is missed. Could something else be put in place so that, if we are slipping from those targets, we can get more regular reporting on how we will get back on track? Maybe you would like to reflect on that and come back to the committee.

The first budget could cover three years and be followed by a five-year budget and another five-year budget. The first budget period would get us back in alignment with the rest of the UK.

Does anyone else have any comments?

Thank you.

My point is about how this is going to work. The Climate Change Committee will produce a report in the spring, and it is working on that already. Earlier, you seemed to suggest that the committee’s delaying things here would, in turn, delay that report. However, as I understand it, that report is coming out anyway—the CCC is already working on it. If this committee wanted to take more evidence, and if that were to delay matters by a month, that would not delay the CCC’s report, would it? Hence, it would not delay the climate change plan that we are expecting.