Hansard

Thank you, convener. I have some opening remarks. The job titles of my officials clearly indicate their specific areas of interest. They, too, will be able to respond to questions, if that is required by committee members.“Low Carbon Scotland: Public Engagement Strategy” was published on 30 December 2010. It sets out how the Scottish Government will work with others to drive forward Scotland’s transition to being a low-carbon society. The strategy is the latest in a series of documents that have followed the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. It will be used to help drive forward the messages in the energy efficiency action plan, the low-carbon economic strategy, the zero waste plan and the draft report on proposals and policies, and it will support their implementation.The most important part of the public engagement strategy is the annual delivery plan, which brings together for the first time in one document a list of actions that we are taking across the organisation, and actions that we are taking in conjunction with our partners. It is important that we see the plan as a living plan—I expect it to develop and be added to as we gather momentum.The actions show how we will engage with people across Scotland to raise everyone’s awareness of the opportunities that low-carbon living will bring. We particularly want to do more to motivate and inspire young people because, no matter the career path that they choose, the transition to low-carbon living will mean that their generation will have to develop very different skills from their predecessors. For some, it will be a significant change, as they develop expertise in renewables or carbon-capture technologies; for others, it will mean adding green elements and understanding to the more traditional jobs. Our young people can all expect significant changes in how they live, work and travel, and we want to ensure that they are well placed and well informed so that they can take best advantage of that transition.One innovative project that has been developed for the engagement strategy is our work with Young Scot involving local investigation projects that are led by young people. That will be our chance to hear young people’s perspectives of three critical aspects of low-carbon living, and to get their feedback. I look forward to seeing the work develop, and I expect that we will all learn from it.We also give priority to increasing our engagement with business organisations and the private sector. We expect that 60,000 new jobs could be created in Scotland in renewables, low-carbon technologies and environmental management industries. We know, too, the key role that workplaces can have in engaging with staff on low-carbon living. I hope that the private sector actions that have been outlined in this first year of the public engagement strategy will be developed and increased year on year as we work with businesses and their representative organisations to ensure that employers have access to the information that will help them to benefit from our transition to a low-carbon economy.The strategy also highlights the important role of communities and individuals who have expertise in low-carbon living and who can share their experience. The climate challenge fund has created a fantastic range of projects that demonstrate what can be done at local level. We want to build on the expertise that they have developed and identify ways of sharing best practice more widely.The engagement strategy also takes heed of the role that the public sector can play—both in ensuring that it operates in an increasingly low-carbon way, and in using its role to influence others through the wide range of functions and activities in which it engages.The strategy sets out, too, the actions that we as individuals can all take in our daily lives to contribute to the achievement of Scotland’s targets to reduce emissions. Those actions are tied to a long-term research programme that focuses on behaviour change and will track our progress.Informing people about the impacts of climate change and about action to adapt to those impacts is another important role for Government. Although we do not have a statutory duty to publish an adaptation programme until 2013, we are already engaging widely on the issue. The public engagement strategy acknowledges some of those activities and is taking the opportunity to bring clarity and read-across to our messages on reducing emissions and adapting to change.I recognise that this is the first year of a new process. I also recognise that public engagement is a dynamic activity that is subject to feedback and changing demands. It is important that we see engagement not as a one-way process: it must work two ways, if it is to work at all. The creation of an annual delivery plan, which will be reviewed and updated each year, means that we have built in additional flexibility and a formal opportunity for sharing progress with our partners and stakeholders. An internal public engagement implementation group has been established to oversee and evaluate the strategy.In addition, I intend to add a further strand. This is something that I thought about in early conversations with officials on the issue. In recognition of the key role that our partners will play, I have asked officials to create a new public engagement stakeholders group that will work with the implementation group to ensure open and transparent dialogue on the progress of the public engagement strategy. The plan is that I will chair the stakeholders group when it meets every six months.I need to be clear about this: the group is not intended to be a group of the usual suspects. My intention is to drill down a lot further to reach the level of people who one might say are already engaged in doing the work, such as the teachers and headteachers in eco-schools and the people who are involved in specific climate challenge projects. That will help us to get feedback from those who are already actively engaged in the things that we are talking about.