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Significant public consultation and stakeholder engagement was undertaken as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in December 2022. STPR2 will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme in Scotland over the next 20 years (2022-2042) and will help to deliver the vision, priorities and outcomes for transport set out in the National Transport Strategy (NTS2). Within this there is a recommendation for a review of the upgrade or relocation of Stranraer rail station to be undertaken. Stakeholder engagement and public consultation were key elements of this review, including a three-month public consultation on the draft recommendations between January and April 2022. A summary report detailing the outcomes of this exercise was produced alongside an analysis report setting out how responses were used to inform the appraisal process. STPR2 Recommendation 40 includes measures to improve access to Stranraer and ports at Cairnryan; to encourage greater use of public transport and support wider town regeneration proposals, this recommendation also includes a review of the upgrade or relocation of Stranraer rail station.

We are committed to a just transition that supports those employed in oil and gas and will continue to work with the sector to remove barriers and seize opportunities offered by the renewable sectors – with no person or region left behind. The Just Transition Fund has already supported an £11 million package of skills projects. In addition, through the Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund in the North East and Moray, which has already supported 45 community projects, and the Pilot Community Climate Assembly project, communities and individuals in the region are being actively engaged in discussions on climate action, and empowered to explore what a just transition means for them. Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan was developed through extensive engagement with industry, trade unions, communities and workers and we will continue to engage with local communities on the importance of a just and fair transition.

Regular engagement takes place with the COSLA Environment and Economy policy board. Most recently this included presenting a paper to the board on 23 June providing an update on local authorities progress with their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES). LHEES will provide area-based plans for decarbonising all buildings in a local authority area, including those owned by local authorities, in line with net zero commitments, which support and guide capital investment (both public and private) over the longer term. The cost of decarbonising local authority buildings specifically has not arisen as part of these discussions, but LHEES will set out what is required to achieve this when they are published by the local authorities. Local authorities are required to publish their first LHEES by the end of 2023, and this duty reinforces the wider duty on public bodies to contribute to the delivery of our national statutory targets to reduce emissions.

To support the decarbonisation of local authority buildings, the Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund has been launched in partnership with Salix offering up to £20 million in grants to support local authorities, as well as universities and arm’s-length external organisations to decarbonise their buildings. The funding forms part of the £200 million already committed to the public sector for energy efficiency and renewable heating over the next five years - part of the wider plan to spend £1.8 billion in this current parliamentary session on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings.

More widely, in our Heat in Buildings Strategy the Scottish Government committed to “work with COSLA to strengthen and integrate governance arrangements on heat and energy efficiency, to ensure effective delivery over the long term.” A liaison role was created in 2022 to provide capacity within COSLA to engage across the Heat in Buildings programme and embed a partnership approach. This resulted in the establishment of the Heat in Buildings Local Government Oversight group, which meets on a regular basis to provide a forum for dialog between relevant Scottish Government and COSLA officials on the Heat in Buildings programme and wider heat transition.

The Scottish Government accepted the recommendations in the 2022 Planning for Skills Report and have taken action to improve our assurance and oversight of skills planning, including through the actions taken as part of the Shared Outcomes Framework (published in March 2022). The Scottish Government also published the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) in March 2022, which includes analysis and actions to develop Scotland’s Skilled Workforce.

In Autumn 2022, the Scottish Government initiated the independent review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, led by James Withers, to provide recommendations on how the skills functions of our public bodies, including skills planning, should change to ensure the system remains fit for purpose for delivering the ambitions in NSET.

In his final report, published in June 2023, James Withers recommends that the Scottish Government takes responsibility for national skills planning. Following that report, in its Initial Priorities paper, published on 28 June 2023 alongside the Purpose and Principles for post-school education, research and skills, the Scottish Government accepted the basis of many recommendations made by James Withers including taking responsibility for national skills planning and enhancing the role of employers in shaping system planning priorities, pathways and provision.

We will be working over the coming months, with partners, to explore the practicalities of implementing these priorities including our approach to developing new national and regional skills planning processes.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report detailing offshore workers’ demands for a just energy transition and agrees that listening to and acting on recommendations from workers is critical to ensure a Just Transition.

We must ensure a fair and just transition for our skilled offshore workers and that is why we have provided £100,000 in funding to the STUC to ensure workers’ voices are at the heart of our just transition planning.

The recommendations provided within this report are being carefully considered as part of the work to finalise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP).

As stated in response to S6W-19919 and S6W-19920 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion.

The cost of decarbonising the NHS will vary amongst individual Health Boards and types of property as there is significant variety in the size of individual buildings across the Estate. It is anticipated that many of the interventions required will result in long term savings and we will work with NHS Boards to estimate the high-level costs of key initiatives that are of national significance.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion.

Costs will be dependent on the route taken to decarbonising buildings, including whether they connect to a heat network or install individual heating solutions, and the depth of energy efficiency retrofit required.

The first step is planning at a strategic level for decarbonisation pathways. Local Authorities are currently preparing Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) which will set out decarbonisation pathways for local areas. These will be published later this year and will inform decisions around retrofitting across the public sector estate.

In partnership with the wider public sector we will build on LHEES to fully understand the costs associated with transitioning to zero direct emission heating systems across the public estate.

We are investing £1.8 billion in this Parliamentary term on zero direct emission heating and energy efficiency solutions. Building on this, the Green Heat Finance Taskforce is continuing with its work to explore which financing and funding products offer the greatest potential for development at scale in Scotland to help finance our heating transition, in line with our net zero targets. The Taskforce will shortly publish their Part 1 Report which will focus primarily on options for individual property owners, while a second report later in the year will cover options for communal solutions that can support multiple properties. These reports will inform development of our medium to longer term strategic financing and funding plans for heat.

The pace of the Heat in Buildings transition requires a substantial growth in supply chains, particularly in the availability of skilled heating and energy efficiency installers and we continue to work with the sector to ensure the right mix of skills are in place at the scale needed across Scotland to successfully meet our ambitions. We publish a progress report against our Heat in Buildings Strategy annually – the latest update is available here: Heat in Buildings Strategy: 2022 update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Working with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council, Skills Development Scotland is leading two CESAP Pathfinder projects to enable a better understanding of the complex green skills landscape and explore the relationship between future demand and existing provision. One of those projects is focused on the decarbonisation of domestic and commercial heating and the findings will be published once the pathfinder concludes.

We are committed to a fair and managed transition to net zero and are developing Just Transition Plans for key sectors across Scotland. This includes a plan for the Built Environment and Construction, to ensure the economic and social opportunities of the transition to net zero are captured and the risks associated with rapid structural change are mitigated.

As stated in response to S6W-19919 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion. We will work in partnership with the wider public sector to build on Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies which local authorities are currently developing, to fully understand the costs associated with transitioning to zero direct emission heating systems across the public estate.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As stated in response to S6W-19919, S6W-19920, S6W-19921, S6W-19922 and S6W-19923 on 9 August 2023, the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy estimates the cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings at £33 billion.

Costs will be dependent on the route taken to decarbonising buildings, including whether they connect to a heat network or install individual heating solutions, and the depth of energy efficiency retrofit required.

An Estate Strategy and Carbon Management Plan for core Scottish Government buildings is currently under development to support our asset planning and the future investment decisions required to deliver our Heat in Building Strategy targets and our wider Net Zero commitments.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers