- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the Onshore Wind Policy Statement is reflected in the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) reforms.
Answer
Our draft NPF4 gives spatial expression to a wide range of Scottish Government plans, programmes and strategies. It sets out a vision for how our places will change in the future and reflects priorities across Scottish Government portfolios, including how our approach to planning and development will achieve a net zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045.
Draft NPF4 includes green energy policies which support renewable energy development other than in National Parks and National Scenic Areas, subject to an assessment of their impacts on a case by case basis. Through the draft NPF4, we are also proposing to designate a national development which would establish the need for a large increase in renewable energy generation and substantial reinforcement and expansion of grid infrastructure throughout Scotland.
We laid the draft NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament on 10 November 2021. Alongside Parliamentary scrutiny of the draft, we are running a public consultation, supported by an extensive engagement programme, and comments are invited by 31 March 2022. Following this period, we will consider the responses received and any appropriate amendments to the draft NPF4 before presenting a final draft to the Scottish Parliament for its approval, in advance of adoption by the Scottish Ministers.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what ministerial discussions have taken place with representatives of Scotland’s renewable energy industry regarding the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).
Answer
The Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth met with representatives from Scottish Renewables on 21 July 2021 to discuss the renewable energy industry’s vision for NPF4.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that climate change and nature recovery will be the primary priorities of the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).
Answer
Meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and securing positive effects for biodiversity are two of six high level outcomes for the National Planning Framework set out in The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
The draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) currently subject to Scottish Parliament scrutiny, alongside public consultation, is clear that we must rebalance our planning system so that climate change and nature recovery are the primary guiding principles for all our plans and decisions. Its four overarching themes work together towards net-zero, adaptable places and addressing the nature crisis.
Our radically improved and new policies contained in draft NPF4 include new universal policies addressing the climate emergency and nature crisis, to be applied to all planning decisions. These policies create a requirement to give significant weight to the global climate emergency in plans and decisions. They also aim to deliver positive outcomes for biodiversity from development without the need for overly complex metrics.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05802 by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2022, what the membership is of the (a) Bioenergy Policy Working Group and (b) Bioenergy Expert Panel, and whether it will publish the minutes of the meetings of the Bioenergy Policy Working Group.
Answer
a) The Bioenergy Policy Working Group consists Scottish Government officials from a number of policy areas.
- Agriculture Transformation for Environment and Climate Change
- Bioenergy
- Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)
- Critical Energy Infrastructure & Commercial Projects
- Domestic Climate Change
- Environmental Protection - Air Quality
- Environmental Quality and Circular Economy
- Heat Strategy
- Hydrogen
- Industrial Decarbonisation
- Industrial Strategy and Technologies
- Just Transition
- Land Use Strategy
- Land Use Transformation
- Natural Capital and Land Management
- Office of the Chief Economic Adviser (OCEA)
- Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS)
- Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)
- Scottish Forestry
- Sustainable Aviation
- Transport -Supply Chains and Alternative Fuels
- Whole Energy System
Minutes from the meetings will be published as soon as practical. However the group are still in the process of developing policy and considering options.
b) The Bioenergy Expert panel has still to be assembled.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has with local government regarding support that it can provide in order to maintain local authority frontline services.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2022
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet the timescales for the milestones set out on page 8 of the document, Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) - Planning Specification and Context Report, published in August 2021.
Answer
The Scottish Government published the next stage of the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) On 22 February 2022. This document reflects the results of the consultation that was held on the Planning Specification and Context Report last year and now describes the spatial parameters that will be used by Crown Estate Scotland to progress their related leasing round.
Given the proximity to ScotWind, the Initial Plan Framework and timelines were updated to account for the very significant and world leading results of the ScotWind process.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the results of the consultation, Sectoral Marine Plan - innovation and targeted oil and gas decarbonisation, offshore wind, which closed in October 2021.
Answer
The Scottish Government published the Initial Plan Framework, the next step in the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) process on 22 February 2022. This document includes the consultation analysis. Individual responses to the consultation, where permitted, will be published on the Scottish Government website.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05805 by Patrick Harvie on 3 February 2022, for what reason it has not included biofuels in the list of options that may be of particular benefit to households living in rural and island areas whose homes are not suitable for heat pumps.
Answer
Recent advice from our statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), states that “sustainable bioenergy is essential for reaching net zero”. Given resource supply limitations, it must be used in those applications with the highest greenhouse gas savings (those with CO2 sequestration and/or displacement of high carbon alternatives).
The Committee recommends that the preferred use for bioenergy will be with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in electricity, hydrogen and biojet applications.
Overall the Scottish Government’s aim is to see bioenergy used where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions, however this decision is also dependent on which sectors will make the best use of the bioenergy feedstocks that we can grow sustainably or produce domestically in comparison with those we may need to import.
We will publish a Bioenergy Action Plan in 2023 which will set out a strategic framework for the use of bioenergy.
In the near term our programmes which support decarbonisation of heat are promoting those technologies which have a clear long-term role.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05803 by Patrick Harvie on 1 February 2022, how many of the 156 participants were (a) not representing an organisation and (b) off-grid householders.
Answer
The 2021 consultation on the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy included 7 consultation workshops, which were open to all interested participants. Of the 156 attendees, 147 identified themselves as representing an organisation. Workshop attendees were not asked to register their personal circumstances, so information on how many were off-grid householders was not recorded.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that a short-term holiday let is not of an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C or better by the required date in 2025, whether it is required to immediately cease being offered as a short-term holiday let or any other tenancy, and what penalty will be applied in the event that the lessor continues to market the property as a short-term holiday let or other type of tenancy.
Answer
The Heat in Buildings Strategy confirms our intention to introduce, subject to consultation, regulations requiring Scotland’s homes to meet EPC Band C equivalent, where that is technically feasible and cost effective from 2025 onwards, with a range of backstop dates from 2028 to 2033. We plan to consult during 2022 on our proposals for such regulations, and this will include details of any exemptions, definitions of properties in scope, and matters relating to compliance.
