Meeting of the Parliament

Time for Reflection Tetiana Balanova, Community Coordinator, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) in Edinburgh followed by Topical Questions Liam Kerr S6T-01462 1. To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to support local communities that have recently been affected by water shortages. Sarah Boyack S6T-01459 2. To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any implications for its Deposit Return Scheme, when it and its agencies were informed of Circularity Scotland's financial position, including the company's reported need to send staff home. followed by Ministerial Statement: Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards Implementation followed by Ministerial Statement: Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2021 followed by Scottish Government Debate: Scottish Innovation Strategy Richard Lochhead S6M-09594 That the Parliament welcomes the publication of Scotland’s National Innovation Strategy; recognises its vision for Scotland to become one of the most innovative small nations in the world over the next decade as a key part of delivering a greener, fairer, wellbeing economy; recognises Scotland’s potential to become a world leader in four key areas of the economy, which are energy to address the climate emergency, health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and data and digital technologies; welcomes the strategy’s four programmes, which are a national network of clusters in key sectors, a renewed investment and support offer for businesses, a new framework for realising the commercial and community benefits of research, and a new programme focused on supporting businesses to become active in innovation and improve their productivity; recognises that the Scottish Government will measure and evaluate Scotland’s innovation performance and compare this to similar nations on an annual basis; welcomes the extensive engagement, consultation and joint working with industry, academia, entrepreneurs, investors and the public sector that helped develop the strategy; notes the successful examples of innovation taking place across the country; recognises the important role of enhanced employee engagement and alternative ownership models in fostering innovation, and understands the significant opportunities for Scotland, and its businesses, entrepreneurs, workers, communities and universities, to grow and scale its excellence in innovation and technology to become recognised globally as a world-leading innovation nation. Jamie Halcro Johnston S6M-09594.2 As an amendment to motion S6M-09594 in the name of Richard Lochhead (Scottish Innovation Strategy), leave out from first "welcomes" to end and insert "recognises the importance of driving innovation in Scotland, both within the public and private sectors, but believes that the current direction of the Scottish Government is creating barriers to growth and inhibiting innovation; further recognises that high taxes on individuals and businesses risk impacting on growth; regrets the reduction in the 2023-24 budget settlement to the enterprise agencies, which will reduce their ability to support Scottish businesses; acknowledges the challenges faced in the university sector for Scottish students due to high levels of competition and the resulting impact that has on the ability to train, in the numbers required, sufficiently skilled workers to drive and support innovation; believes that leaving the United Kingdom would severely damage Scotland’s ability to succeed by creating a border across the vital UK single market, creating significant challenges for businesses to trade and operate across the United Kingdom, and would cost the Scottish economy billions of pounds, reducing the ability to foster a strong, vibrant and innovative economy, and believes that Scotland’s success lies in cooperation across the United Kingdom, economic policies which provide Scotland with a competitive advantage, proper investment in infrastructure to benefit businesses and communities, and a Scottish Government with a firm grasp on public finances to build business confidence and drive innovation." Daniel Johnson S6M-09594.1 As an amendment to motion S6M-09594 in the name of Richard Lochhead (Scottish Innovation Strategy), insert at end "; recognises that ambition alone will not be enough to realise the potential of Scotland’s people, businesses and communities; believes that a genuine coordinated industrial strategy, built on investment, skills and infrastructure, will be central to driving innovation; welcomes the identification of the energy sector as a sector with high potential, and believes that the best chance of realising the potential in Scotland’s energy sector is through the Labour Party’s plan to create a new publicly-owned energy company, which will be headquartered in Scotland and will deliver lower bills, energy security and good jobs for Scotland." followed by Motion of No Confidence That the Parliament has no confidence in the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, in light of the failure of the proposed Scottish Deposit Return Scheme. followed by Decision Time followed by Members' Business — S6M-09435 Alexander Burnett: Ensuring a Just Transition for Rural Communities That the Parliament believes that what it sees as the Scottish Government’s failure to listen to local communities has resulted in an unjust transition to net zero taking place in rural communities across Scotland, including those in the Aberdeenshire West constituency; recognises what it sees as the vital importance of an energy strategy that uses a mix of energy sources to achieve a just transition and protect the livelihood and character of rural communities; acknowledges what it sees as the significant concerns of local communities and local authorities, which, it believes, have overwhelmingly opposed industrial sized onshore windfarm proposals, but have then been overruled by the Energy Consents Unit in Edinburgh; notes the view that the Scottish Government should ensure that local community objections to renewable energy developments are a key factor in considering when approval should be granted; further notes the calls for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation for a mandatory minimum megawatt-hour community benefit contribution rate from renewable energy developments, which would increase in line with inflation; recognises the role that it believes that community benefit should play in ensuring that communities receive fair compensation as part of a real just transition in areas where renewable energy developments are being considered, and notes the calls for the Scottish Government to implement the recommendations of the joint review by the UK and Scottish governments of ETSU-R-97 on all new onshore windfarm developments, in particular, the recommendation that controlling values for noise during the night should not be higher for night-time than during the day.