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As you said, the report does not look at a just transition, but is the intention that you will take more of an interest in the potential impact on individuals and organisations if a just transition is not delivered on the Scottish Government’s planned timetable? That might have an impact on the Government achieving its net zero targets.

Do you know why it took until December 2022 before a specific adaptation risk was added to the Government’s corporate risk register? Was there a particular reason for that?

In broad terms, most people in most organisations are alert to the requirements to meet those net zero ambitions, but in relation to the public purse, are public sector bodies—from local government right through to the NHS estate—prepared for the significant costs that are coming down the line in relation to the targets that they must achieve, which will feed through to the national target?

The risk of not meeting the net zero targets has been given a high risk score, which means that it is very likely that they will not be achieved, and you state in the report that

“the impact of this would be severe.”

What would “severe” look like?

The term “just transition” is now commonly used, although I would venture to suggest that it is not commonly understood in all quarters. What checks are in place to ensure that net zero targets are met in a way that is fair to all, so that it truly is a just transition? For example, in the national economic interest and the national security interest, the UK spent £40 billion last year on oil and gas from Norway. Would it be right to have broader concerns that winding down Scotland’s oil and gas sector would have an impact in that the transition would not necessarily be fair for all?

The risks are set out in the exhibits on pages 19 to 21 of the report. Exhibit 4 shows the Scottish Government’s risk management structure; exhibit 5 is an overview of the Scottish Government’s climate change risk registers to which you have referred; and exhibit 6 is the Scottish Government’s overview of key risks to achieving climate change goals. In light of your previous answer and those three exhibits, is your primary concern to do with the adequacy and scope of the risk registers and the measures that the Government is taking, or is it about the efficacy of the actions that it is taking?

I will make a final technical point. Your report suggests that focusing on short-term impacts is not appropriate for assessing the impacts of climate change, because the most severe impacts will be on the longer-term projections. Has the Scottish Government indicated that it agrees with that point in your report, and if so, what steps is it taking to review how it calculates the risk score for climate change adaptation?

Is there a risk that there is a lag, and that public policy is continuing to move in a more progressive direction, towards higher tax, when the impact of that will not be felt until two or three years after any fiscal change takes place?

Is it fair to say that the greater the divergence, the greater the risk is that people’s behavioural patterns will start to change?

The discussion around the impact of the changes and whether it is sensible to have very divergent tax rates is, in effect, a matter for ministers. Alyson Stafford, do you want to comment on what work is being undertaken? We might find out about the problem only once it is too late—once too many upper rate taxpayers have moved or too many individuals are incorporated and, therefore, all the tax receipts are going to the UK Government rather than the Scottish Government. What work is being done to ensure that we are alert to the fact that we do not come to the issue once it is too late and has already had a material impact on tax receipts in Scotland?