Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2016
I am happy to write to Mr McArthur with details about the expenditure of the £7 million in due course. The announcement has just been made, and I will furnish him with the details.
At the convention of the Highlands and Islands—COHI—last Monday, I had the opportunity to discuss the issue in Mr McArthur’s second question with representatives from Orkney Islands Council: Steven Heddle and colleagues were represented. As Mr McArthur knows, it is my top priority to connect the islands of Scotland to the grid. The reason for that is the tremendous benefits that connecting to the UK grid would have for the people in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. The Baringa report estimated those benefits to amount, if I remember correctly, to £725 million. Mr McArthur and I have worked on the matter for some time. Those benefits would be game changing.
We are concerned—and those concerns were expressed at COHI—that, although Andrea Leadsom told us last September that the process of obtaining European Union approval for the state aid procedure would take two months, the UK Government has still not put in the application, even though it is our understanding that the application is put in after the substance has been agreed. We are extremely concerned that the UK Government has not taken the necessary steps to make progress with the island connections, and we are, of course, pressing it on that point.