- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it continues to support the introduction of minimum pricing as a means of tackling problems with alcohol.
Answer
This administration has put in place a comprehensive framework of over 40 actions which, taken together, will help reduce consumption and harm and help rebalance our relationship with alcohol. However, I am clear - and this is a view shared by alcohol experts around the world including the World Health Organization - that our efforts will be hampered if some colleagues in the chamber continue to oppose minimum pricing while failing to suggest any alternative measures that would be equally effective.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 9 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it and its agencies invested in the renewables and community renewables industry between (a) 2003 and 2007 and (b) 2007 and 2011.
Answer
The following table shows Scottish Government expenditure on renewable energy by year. It does not include investment in renewable energy by the enterprise agencies.
Scottish Government Expenditure on Renewable Energy
| Year | |
| 2002-3 | £230,319 |
| 2003-4 | £2,669,069 |
| 2004-5 | £3,871,157 |
| 2005-6 | £3,950,828 |
| 2006-7 | £8,653,021 |
| 2007-8 | £16,017,256 |
| 2008-9 | £15,157,616 |
| 2009-10 | £24,560,404 |
| 2010-11 (forecast to end of financial year) | £30,296,501 |
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it estimates will be created under its plans for a low-carbon economy by 2014-15.
Answer
The Low Carbon Economic Strategy highlights the massive potential that renewable, environmental and emerging low carbon sectors have in Scotland. In considering the evidence base underpinning the Strategy we estimate that employment in the Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sector could support an additional 22,000 additional jobs by 2014-15. This would increase employment in the sector to 95,000 by 2014-15 from its 2008-09 base of 73,000.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 November 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will fulfil the requirement of section 35 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to set out a report on proposals and policies for meeting annual emissions targets for 2010 to 2022.
Answer
The draft Report on Proposals and Policies has been published today (laying number SG/2010/251) and a copy will be placed in Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52063). A final report will be published following a 60-day period for Parliamentary consideration, as required by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 30 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 13 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of Edinburgh Napier University’s decision to discontinue its Communication, Advertising and PR undergraduate degree (a) how many applicants will be affected by this decision and (b) what recourse applicants who are negatively affected will have to ensure they can begin their chosen area of study.
Answer
Edinburgh Napier University is an autonomous institution and is therefore responsible for managing its own course provision. The information requested could only be obtained from Edinburgh Napier University.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs in the renewables and low-carbon sector are expected to be created in the next (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 years.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s discussion paper, Towards a Low Carbon Economy for Scotland, reported in March that from a baseline of around 70,000 jobs in 2008, the low carbon sector in Scotland could support an additional 60,000 jobs by 2020, of which 26,000 jobs could be created in the renewable energy industry.
By 2015 it is estimated that almost 32,000 jobs could be created in the low carbon sector, of which around 13,500 jobs could be created in the renewables sector. The remainder of the low carbon jobs are expected to be created in the environmental management and emerging low carbon technologies sectors.
There are currently no forecasts of the number of jobs that could be created over the next 20 years in Scotland''s low carbon and renewable energy sector.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific measures it has in place, or plans to put in place, to prepare and train unskilled, low skilled and other hard-to-employ groups for employment in the renewables and low-carbon sector.
Answer
Later this spring we will publish a refreshed skills strategy with a renewed focus on the skills needed to support a strong recovery for Scotland as well as longer-term sustainable economic growth.
This will build on the Skills Framework for Action under the Scottish Government''s Renewables Action Plan, and will be supplemented by the development of our Low Carbon Strategy which highlights the identification, articulation and development of appropriate skills for the low carbon economy as a priority.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific measures it has in place, or plans to put in place, to assist small businesses to take advantage of future opportunities in the renewables and low-carbon sector.
Answer
The transition to a low carbon economy presents major opportunities for Scotland to develop new industries, skills and jobs, and the Scottish Government works through the enterprise agencies to realise those opportunities.
For instance, this year, in conjunction with the Crown Estate, we have hosted three very well attended offshore wind supply chain share fair events in Scotland. These events highlighted both the range and scale of the market opportunity to Scottish firms associated with the planned expansion of the offshore wind sector.
In addition, the Scottish Government is developing a Low Carbon Strategy to maximise Scotland''s economic potential in the global low carbon market.
More generally, The Carbon Trust and Energy Saving Trust are funded by the Scottish Government to provide energy efficiency advice to all sizes of business. This advice ranges from site surveys to identify where energy savings can be implemented, to training events which raise awareness of the business benefits from introducing low carbon practices in the workplace.
Through our Energy Saving Scotland small business loans scheme, SMEs can access interest-free loans for a range of energy efficiency and renewables measures, offering business opportunities through mechanisms such as the Feed-in Tariff for electricity generation.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has regarding the geographical spread of potential future jobs in the renewables and low-carbon sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the geographical spread of potential jobs in the renewables and low carbon sector.
- Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs in the renewables and low-carbon sector expected to be created over the next 20 years will be (a) low, (b) semi and (c) highly skilled.
Answer
Current estimates of the number of jobs which could be created in the renewables and low carbon sector are not broken down by skills level. However, the Scottish Government and its partners are working with industry to identify and address strategically the skills issues arising from the transition to the low carbon economy.
