Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes. It is a reference to the report from the Climate Change Committee.

Thank you for that full—and, to be honest, fascinating—answer.

Finally, on a slightly different topic and picking up on something that the director general mentioned earlier, the UK is the first G7 country to agree the North Sea transition deal, which I think is worth between £16 billion and £18 billion of leveraged private investment to support the oil and gas industry’s transition to clean and green energy as well as supporting jobs. As part of the deal, the sector has committed to cutting emissions by about 50 per cent by 2030 and the Government, the sector and the unions are going to work together on delivering the skills, innovation and infrastructure that will be needed to decarbonise North Sea production. The question, therefore, is: will COP26 have any impact on the transition deal or does it remain as is?

Last week, the committee discussed the just transition. We heard concerns that plans may not yet be sufficiently developed. You alluded to the announcement of £500 million over 10 years for a just transition fund, but we do not have any detail about that yet. What is the timescale for us to have details of the just transition plan and fund? When can we expect concrete plans to be in place? I presume that, until those plans are in place, the Scottish Government will not take decisions that would jeopardise jobs in the sector.

As Jackie Dunbar has raised the issue of transport, I would like to ask a very brief question about ferries. Last December, our predecessor committee described the management of the procurement of the two new ferries as a “catastrophic failure”. Since then, we have been told that the new completion date is 2023, which is, I think, five years behind the original schedule, and that the final costs will be over £200 million. My question, cabinet secretary, is this: do you know whether that is the final projection for the target date and cost, or could that move again? Given the need for on-going vessel replacement, what is the Government doing to ensure that that “catastrophic failure” does not happen again?

I understand your point. What I am hearing in relation to my concern is that next year, with the publication of plans, is critical. You mentioned hydrogen, which I might come back to, although I will not make a substantive point on that at this stage.

On a slightly different topic, the Scottish Government announced four years ago that a publicly owned energy company would be created to generate and supply energy but, £500,000 later, it seems to have been dropped—we heard last week that it will not go ahead. Will you help the committee to understand why the policy changed? When was the decision to drop the policy made and by whom? Do you have oversight of what the £500,000 was spent on?

I appreciate that this might be a question for Mr Dey, whom we might bring in, but what is the Government going to do to ensure that that does not happen again? Do you know off the top of your head what has already been put in place?

I am grateful. I think that what I am hearing is that, in some ways, the focus has changed from supply to demand, and it is about what needs to change when it comes to demand.

Just sticking with the policy on a publicly owned energy company, I saw that your party’s conference voted at the weekend for a different policy from yours, in that it would prefer that an energy company was created. Will that impact on your thinking? If so, what steps will be taken?

I am very grateful for that.

Yes. Thank you for that. I listened carefully when Dave Moxham talked to Jackie Dunbar about the move that oil and gas workers can make into jobs in other areas and energy sectors. I understand that point, but then ask myself: where will an offshore chef find an onshore chef’s job with the equivalent pay? Where will the helicopter pilot fly to if there is no installation to get to? Where will the crew of a platform supply vessel work if the vessel does not have a platform to go to? Where will the roustabout find work onshore with the equivalent pay? Those roles do not readily map on to something like offshore wind. Ought not the Scottish Government to be addressing those sorts of questions urgently and talking about what it wants our oil and gas workers to retrain into and what green jobs might be available if it is to get the buy-in that Dave Moxham rightly said is required?

In its final advice, the commission recommended that the Scottish Government develop detailed road maps and that workers in carbon-intensive industries be supported in accessing the skills that they require to transition. The Scottish Government has not done that work yet, and the funding skills that have been announced lack detail. Is it important to have these details and schemes in place before the Scottish Government takes decisions that might lead to serious problems for, say, workers in the oil and gas industry and the north-east?