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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 13 March 2025
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Displaying 3015 contributions

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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

In the summer, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and I signed a joint vision statement, which is in the public domain, specifically about engagement with Scottish public bodies. Work has also been done by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on working with Scottish bodies. It does not want to be in a situation where, going back to what Mr Matheson said, anything butts up against any of the priorities or processes of Crown Estate Scotland or SNIB, for example.

The Crown Estate Bill for England and Wales is currently going through the UK Parliament. We passed our own legislation for Scotland—the Scottish Crown Estate Act 2019—five years ago, so our Crown Estate is a separate entity, but we would expect that GB Energy will be working with it. We are also keen to make progress on ensuring that there is parity between the Crown Estate in Scotland and the Crown Estate in England in their relationships with GB Energy.

11:45  

The recognition that GB Energy will interact with Scottish public bodies, and that we will be kept aware of what those interactions are, was set out in the vision statement.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

That has not been mentioned in my discussions. Again, I think that CCUS is separate; I have not had those discussions about CCUS. My discussions have been around the priorities that have been laid out, which are about energy generation.

I am glad that you have brought up that point, however, because it gives me the opportunity to say yet again, on record, that carbon capture, utilisation and storage in Scotland has huge potential but we need that track status. CCUS is another real area of economic growth. In addition, it has always been said in all the reports that have come from the UK Climate Change Committee that CCUS is a fundamental part of helping us to get to net zero.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

That is a question for GB Energy, but there are things in our policy that mean that consent will not be given for new nuclear with the current technologies, for all the reasons that are on the record.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

I had a meeting on that with the Scottish Trades Union Congress and relevant union heads in St Andrew’s house—I think it might have been in July or August. They wanted to feed their thoughts into the draft energy strategy and just transition plan in person, and they also made those points to me. The issue will sit more within the just transition plan space.

Again, I am not going to pre-empt what will be in the plan when it is launched. Given what I have just said to Mark Ruskell, the matter has been looked at, particularly in relation to the energy strategy, given what has been happening in the UK space, not just with policy but with some of the issues that have been brought up and decisions that have been made around legal proceedings, if I can put it that way. All I can say to Ms Lennon is that we engage with the unions all the time on the matter, and I had that specific meeting with them to go through some of the issues that she mentioned.

12:00  

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

I had a meeting yesterday with the secretary of state and representatives from Petroineos. The company is going into stage 2 of its consultations with the workforce. It is starting to have one-to-one meetings with members of the workforce, particularly those that it has not been able to redeploy.

I have asked for more detail from the company on the workforce that it is retaining for the import terminal, the shutdown of the refinery and the processes that are associated with that shutdown. I have also asked for information on people who have other employment, whether in other parts of the Grangemouth industrial complex or elsewhere. Petroineos said that it would try to provide that for me, because it is important that we know what is going on there.

I am also due to have a review of the study that has been done. I refer to project willow, which is looking at the various commercial opportunities for the Grangemouth site. It is far advanced. The secretary of state had his discussion with Ernst & Young on that before Christmas. Mine is due next week, so I will be able to have a lot more discussion about it. Once that study is published, it is our aim to work with the UK Government, Petroineos and any potential investors that we have in the UK and Scotland on some of the opportunities that there will be for that site.

Some of those opportunities are exciting. I look forward to hearing more about the detail of project willow. It says to me that there are, initially, four or five particular streams of opportunity for what that site could become that could be really exciting for Scotland, the rest of the UK and the workforce at Grangemouth.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

Yes. There is no agreement. We have a different policy on nuclear to that of the Labour Government, but there is acknowledgement that we do not want new current technology nuclear developments in Scotland.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

Yes.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

No. I wrote to Minister Shanks on 16 December, and we have sought agreement from the UK Government on the wording of clause 6. Discussions on that are still taking place but are very positive. At the moment, clause 5 is pretty much nailed down; we are still in discussion on clause 6, but I am hopeful.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

In principle, yes.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Great British Energy Bill

Meeting date: 7 January 2025

Gillian Martin

It is about having a level playing field, yes. As I say, the Deputy First Minister and Mairi Gougeon, who has responsibility for the Crown Estate, are leading on that. Again, the GB Energy Bill does not have much about the Crown Estate, but the Crown Estate Bill that is going through the UK Parliament does.