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The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential.

Legislation relating to both the maritime industry as well as employment law is reserved to the UK Government. However, we remain fully committed to utilising every lever within our devolved competence to support and grow domestic supply chain and create new green jobs.

The introduction of a Supply Chain Development Statements by Crown Estate Scotland as part of the ScotWind and the current Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) leasing round is one of these measures - failure to deliver on Supply Chain Commitments could result in a fine or a termination of the seabed lease.

We will drive forward offshore wind skills development – working with stakeholders to focus on the opportunities for diversification and skills transfer from our oil and gas sector, in line with our commitment to a Just Transition.

We know that households using prepayment meters are at particular risk of self-rationing and self-disconnection this winter.

While many of the powers in relation to price setting in the energy market remain with the UK Government, the Scottish Government is using all of its available powers to help these vulnerable consumers. The Emergency Budget Review will extend our Fuel Insecurity Fund through 2022-23, making available a further £10million to Third Sector Organisations to support those facing fuel insecurity. We have also provided an additional £1.2million to advice services across Scotland to enhance support available to those seeking advice on paying their bills and energy efficiency.

£25m digital inclusion funding was made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21 for local authorities to use to support learners, in line with their own local needs. This funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and 72,000 tablets or laptops for learners across all local authorities. This included 2,905 devices in West Lothian.

A number of local authorities have also invested their own funding in technology and have distributed connections and devices to learners in line with their own digital strategies.

This is a complex and ambitious commitment, and we are currently undertaking preparatory work, including looking in detail at the available infrastructure in schools. We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term.

Sampling was carried out in the Chemical Investigation Programme 2 (CIP2) Scotland in areas of high density and low dilution wastewater treatment works (WwTW) at inland watercourses to identify WwTW at the greatest risk of non-compliance with the Priority Substance Directive. A selection of WwTW were chosen to represent influent, effluent, upstream and downstream of WwTW in order to keep the cost of testing the extensive suite of substances affordable. CIP2 Scotland consisted of over 160,000 results.

Aberdeen City, Dundee City, East & West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire are served by WwTW that discharge to coastal waters rather than inland waters. In CIP3 Scotland, sampling is being carried out at WwTW which discharge to coastal & transitional waters. Sampling is being carried out from Dalmuir & Ardoch WwTW which serve East & West Dunbartonshire and Shieldhall WwTW which serves East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire.

The independent economic regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), produces the average charge data in Scotland. In England and Wales, Water UK provides the data to Discover Water. Both average charges are produced independent of water companies and represent the best comparator available.

Trade unions are key partners in delivering our economic and social aspirations.

We will continue to promote strong trade unions and collective bargaining arrangements in all sectors, including the renewable energy sector. We have made a clear commitment to promote collective bargaining through the inclusion of an employee voice indicator, measured by collective bargaining coverage, within the National Performance Framework.

From January 2022 to September 2022 the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has committed grant support for the retrofit of 330 social housing properties across Scotland. The fund offers grant support of up to 50% of the total eligible costs of the project. Projects in the South Scotland region have been awarded an average grant of £5,668 per property.

The Scottish Government is aware of Home Office plans to issue amended immigration rules to prohibit all forms of activity within UK territorial waters or onshore by crew employed using transit visas. Following representations from the Scottish Government and others – including a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture to the Home Secretary on 20 September - the introduction of these new rules has been postponed to spring 2023, rather than 1 November as originally planned.

Whilst that delay is welcome, the Scottish Government is clear that changes to the transit visa rules must accompanied in parallel by changes to Skilled Worker Visa provision to ensure that the latter is genuinely proportionate and accessible to all parts of the fleet, since the alternative may be an exacerbation of current labour shortages and vessel tie-ups. We are similarly clear that the Home Office must ensure that meaningful consultation and robust impact assessments are undertaken before any changes to immigration rules affecting the Scottish fishing industry are made.

In addition to continuing to submit evidence on Scotland’s unique economic and demographic needs to the Migration Advisory Committee, the Scottish Government has offered to meet the Home Office and the other Devolved Governments to identify and implement alternative arrangements that promote proportionate border security whilst also protecting the rights of non-UK workers and the ability of industry to access the labour it needs. To date that offer has not been accepted.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 places a Sustainable Procurement Duty on public bodies to consider how procurement processes can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area, and facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector bodies and supported businesses. This might, for example, mean designing a tender in such a way as to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to local firms bidding.

The World Trade Organisation Agreement on Government Procurement, and other international agreements, require bidders from other countries party to those agreements to be afforded equal treatment in covered procurement exercises. It would not therefore be possible to oblige public bodies to procure from Scottish manufacturers and suppliers.

As set out in the response to S6W-08912, the Final Determination explained that the Commission would expect that its charge caps would allow Scottish Water’s annual revenue in the final year of the current regulatory control period to be no less than £1,392m (as set out in page 10 of the Final Determination). This level of revenue was based on assuming an average charge cap of 1.5% a year above inflation over the regulatory control period 2021-27.

The Final Determination set a maximum amount of charges of CPI + 2% on average for each year of the regulatory control period. As set out in the Final Determination, the difference between the CPI + 2% and the CPI + 1.5% each year on average was to cover any additional costs that Scottish Water incurs in selecting an investment option that has a higher net present value than the lowest financial cost option, after allowing for externalities such as carbon, natural and social capital. This is the allowance of £132m set out in pages 9 and 15 of the Final Determination. This money would only be used where such projects had been thoroughly appraised. The minimum revenue expectation did not take account of this allowance.