Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 1 May 2024.
Alexander Stewart
Conservative
To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates its recent announcement on changes to its net zero targets will have on the development of a green economy. (S6O-03362)
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
The need to amend the statutory trajectory towards our ambitious net zero target is driven by legal necessity. It follows all parties setting a target that was considered beyond what could reasonably be achieved.
Our recent announcements in no way detract from the scale of our ambitions for tackling climate change, including via our energy transition, which presents enormous economic opportunities for Scotland, as well as risks that have to be managed. We remain committed to realising those opportunities for businesses and workers in Scotland, and to supporting a just transition.
Alexander Stewart
Conservative
The Nuclear Industry Association has warned that Scotland’s green economy risks losing billions in investment thanks to the Scottish National Party’s short-sighted Opposition to new nuclear development.
Now that the Greens are no longer in government, will the Minister use the opportunity to consider nuclear power as a means of bolstering Scotland’s green economy and strengthening energy security?
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
Only a Tory could intervene by calling for there to be more attention and focus on nuclear when Scotland is in the middle of a green energy revolution in terms of jobs from offshore wind. [ Interruption .]
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
I draw members’ attention to an edition of The Press and Journal from around a week ago, in which Ian Wood said that the decision on the offshore floating wind farm that has been given consent
“will unlock around £3bn of investment, generate hundreds of jobs and ... effectively result in Europe’s first commercial scale floating wind development.”
Phenomenal developments are happening across Scotland at the moment, so let us not waste time and resources on decades of lost opportunity by focusing on nuclear when we have an opportunity on our doorstep that is right before our eyes. Let us create the jobs in green energy and power ourselves towards net zero.
Sarah Boyack
Labour
To deliver a just transition, we need to make sure that Scotland’s workforce has the skills that are needed by industry. Approximately 80 per cent of the skills of workers in the oil and gas sector could be used in renewables, but demonstrating those skills is a challenge. That is why we support the development of an energy skills passport, but that has repeatedly been delayed. The former Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity said that a passport would be delivered this April, but April has gone and there has been no announcement.
Will the minister intervene urgently and work with trade unions, industry and skills accreditation companies to get a passport in place as soon as possible to open up opportunities for those workers in Scotland?
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
The energy skills passport is a key building block in getting towards a just transition, and ministers have devoted a lot of resource and time to it. However, it is an industry-led initiative and, as Sarah Boyack is aware, it has been quite a complex process. The good news is that we are expecting an announcement soon, so we will hear about the progress that is being made. It is an industry-led initiative, to which we have devoted resources because of its importance.
John Mason
Scottish National Party
Does the Minister agree that it is somewhat hypocritical of the Conservatives to demand more investment in net zero when the Conservative Government has cut our capital budget?
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
John Mason makes a perfectly valid and powerful point. It is hypocritical of the Conservatives to cut Scotland’s capital budgets at a time when we want to address the climate emergency and invest in the green energy revolution—[ Interruption .]
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
Members—please!
Richard Lochhead
Scottish National Party
—and to then come here and complain about the lack of progress towards those targets. That is utter hypocrisy.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
