The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 3015 contributions
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I am not sure what that has to do with the budget, but I can say that £5 million has been put in the budget for community action hubs to deal with that.
I think that Mr Lumsden knows that I would be in danger of breaching the ministerial code if I engaged with any groups where there are live applications or potential applications.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
Did I hear you right, Ms Lennon—did you say that there is friction within the Government?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
We never wanted to use that money. Last year, we were working on the assumption that we were going to have a lot less money to spend—that was a very real scenario that we were looking at. We were confronted with quite a lot of things last year, particularly with regard to public sector pay demands. We did not want our local authority workers to go on strike, and we wanted to negotiate pay deals with them via COSLA. There were teachers’ pay deals to look at, too. There were an awful lot of demands on the public purse in the form of pay deals—rightly so, given the cost of living that people are facing right now. You can understand why that happened: we wanted to work with all the sectors that were making public sector pay asks.
However, we did not have the money for that, so we prepared ourselves for a budget settlement that might have meant use of ScotWind money. Every single member of the Cabinet wanted the ScotWind money to be used for the sorts of things that I have just talked about, so I am pleased that we are now in that situation.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I can write to the committee to ensure that you have accurate information.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I will need to get that information to the committee. Obviously, I am here to talk about the Scottish budget, so I do not have all the projections for ScotWind revenues in future years right in front of me. I do not want to give you the wrong figures.
I would say that the ScotWind money is not an overdraft facility. The Scottish Government has to work within its limitations. Unfortunately, we are in a position in which, last year, given the demands on us, we thought that our settlement was going to be quite difficult. We are not able to borrow to deal with situations such as pay deals. Any devolved Government would be in the same situation.
We could have refused those pay deals, but we did not want to do that, because we did not want to see the resultant impact of that on public services. We are now in a situation in which we have been able to balance the budget—I think that it is a very good budget—and are able to use those resources for the kinds of projects that I mentioned in my answer to Monica Lennon.
10:15Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
We have the just transition fund. As I mentioned in my previous answers, Scotland does not have a supply chain just for oil and gas and another for renewables; we have an energy supply chain. Any just transition funding that we put out there helps oil and gas, its supply chain and its workers, because they are all energy workers.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
It is appropriately resourced. We had a discussion on resourcing during the passage of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2024, and it is satisfied that it is resourced. We have an update on that, but I am not sure whether I have provided that to the committee. I will write to the committee once we have done an analysis of the implications for the delivery of the climate change plan. Late last week, we received an indication that the Climate Change Committee will publish its advice to us around 21 May.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
You can argue back and forth with me, Mr Lumsden. I am telling you what the Scottish cluster has told me, which is that it wants that £80 million to be deployed at the point at which it needs it.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I have told you that already—I thought that that might have been breaking news. I am glad that you got that information. That will obviously have an impact on when we produce the climate change plan, which is now prescribed in statute.
We had a very good first official meeting with Emma Pinchbeck, who is the new chief executive officer of the Climate Change Committee, in December—in the week before recess, I think. We discussed the CCC’s approach to the advice that it will give us and our approach to our climate change plan. I am looking forward to getting the CCC’s advice. I am under no illusions with regard to how much it is pulling out all the stops in order to get that advice to us in May.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Gillian Martin
I will have to write to the committee with that detail. We are doing that work now, because we found out the new date only last Thursday. Obviously, the committee knows that that indication has come. I will write to the committee once we have worked all that out.