だisgwm ddodiw fadeig ar ôl o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r gweithreidau sydd yn canfawr, ond sefio'r wrth iddyn nhw beth yw ddysgu cyfliadau o wneud oherwydd fel y Cymru, a yn cael o'r trafodol y Llyfridog Cym�po. Y gyflawn cyfan y bysrswysysysysysysysysau fod wrth iawn, a y cyfan y bysrswysysysysysysysysysysusio yn cynnig o'r newid honno'r cyfan ac I remind members that Questions 3, 4 and 7 are grouped together and therefore I will take any supplementaries on these questions after all Questions 3, 4 and 7 have been answered. Otherwise, if a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should press their request-to-speak button or indicate so in the chat function by entering the letter R during the relevant question. As ever, in order to get as many people in as possible, I would urge there to be short and succinct questions and answers to match. Question 1, Kenneth Gibson. To ask the Scottish Government how its policies and actions across government will support Ayrshire's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government is working to ensure that Ayrshire recovers and prospers as it emerges from the pandemic. The Ayrshire growth deal will see the Scottish Government invest £10 million over 10 years across Ayrshire, funding projects such as the Great Harbour and Ayrshire Manufacturing Investment Corridor. Additionally, we are supporting the development of Ayrshire's regional economic partnership, which will set out a regional strategic vision for the region. Ayrshire will also benefit from the national policies, including in our 10-year national strategy for economic transformation, our fair work first approach and our infrastructure investment plan. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The Scottish Government is establishing a £500 million transition fund for the north-east of Scotland. With the closure of Hunterston in January and the loss of some 570 jobs over the next three years, will the cabinet secretary consider a transition fund for North Ayrshire as part of its Covid-19 recovery to help the transition from nuclear power to renewables? I recognise the significance of the issue and the importance attached to it by Mr Gibson. The Hunterston site is important for North Ayrshire and the wider community, with the forthcoming decommissioning of the Hunterston B site. We want to ensure that valuable skills are not in any way lost to Ayrshire or the Scottish economy. That is why, within the Ayrshire growth deal, there is a skills fund that will support skills interventions across the region. It is also included in the deal that is a project cited at Hunterston that specifically addresses energy decarbonisation and will support offshore renewable energy development. The Ayrshire regional economic partnership is leading work on long-term strategic economic development, and the Government will support it in that on-going work. 2. Katie Clark To the Scottish Government, what action is it taking to measure the progress of its Covid-19 recovery policies? We will continue to take a range of actions to measure the progress of our Covid-19 policies. That will include regular measurements around furlough levels, employment statistics and business resilience, and tracking Scotland's broader wellbeing through the national performance framework. I will also shortly publish the Covid recovery strategy, and alongside that we will develop a monitoring framework with partners to ensure that we are making progress. 2. Katie Clark At the recent Scottish elections, all political parties spoke about a jobs-led recovery. What action is the Scottish Government taking across all departments to support the creation of jobs in what sectors and what can the Scottish Government do to ensure that support is in place for people who may lose their jobs in the coming months as furlough comes to an end? I think that this is a very important question, and I welcome the thoughts and the contributions of Katie Clark in that respect. The Government has a number of employment-based interventions transition training fund, for example, as one particular proposition that is designed to address exactly the circumstances that Katie Clark puts to me in supporting individuals to be able to move from one sector to another. In relation to sectoral activity, that question will vary around the country. Mr Gibson's question about the north-east of Scotland raises the issues about oil and gas transition into the bargain. I give the member the assurance that, right at the heart of the Government's employment strategy, there is a focus on communities that have been hardest hit by Covid, with the greatest risk of disruption because of the end of the furlough scheme, and our interventions will be focused on supporting individuals to sustain employment in those circumstances. Emma Harper is the supplementary. Citizens Advice Scotland research shows that across Scotland 1.4 million people have run out of money before payday in the last year and warned that the end of furlough and cut to universal credit risks further financial insecurity. What assessment has the Deputy First Minister made of the impact that this will have on Scotland's Covid recovery? I recently had a very helpful discussion with Citizens Advice Scotland explaining the wider assessment that it is making of the impact of financial hardship on our society and the dangers that changes such as the reduction in universal credit will affect. If universal credit cuts take place, it will estimate to push 60,000 Scots into poverty and hundreds of thousands of others into hardship. I have just come from a discussion among my ministerial colleagues about measures that the Government is taking to address the issues of child poverty and to ensure that we have in place effective support to ensure that our objectives are achieved and that we protect individuals as far as we can from the negative effects of the reduction in universal credit, which will inflict hardship on many citizens in our country. 3. Jamie Halcro Johnston To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor and review the Covid-19 vaccine certification scheme. As with other Covid measures, we are under a legal duty to review the necessity of the regulations every three weeks. We have a duty to review the necessity and proportionality of the recommendations. Policy decisions at these review points will be informed from a range of evidence from the forum harms perspective from which Parliament will be familiar. This review will measure the certification programme outcomes against the policy objectives of increasing vaccination uptake, the prevalence of Covid-19 in Scotland and pressures on the national health service. A key factor in the review will be to ensure that the policy impact remains proportionate for the business sector and society at large. Certification regulations are due to expire on 28 February 2022. However, we do not want to have the scheme in place any longer than is necessary. Therefore, if evidence and clinical advice indicated that certification was no longer required, we would remove it. Jamie Halcro Johnston I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. With just over a week until the scheme is supposed to come into place, the night-time industries association is launching legal action against plans that they say are not proportionate and likely to be unlawful. Hospitality Scotland has said that business confidence has been shattered. Yesterday, Liz Cameron of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said that businesses were expected to bear the burden of implementation costs without any financial support whatsoever of a scheme that they believe is not workable in the timescales being proposed. Does the cabinet secretary think that all those bodies are wrong? I quite clearly accept that there is a difference of opinion between the Government and those bodies. I invite the Conservative Party to think about what the alternatives are. The alternative is that many of those sectors have to close because of the levels of infection in society. We do not want that to be the case, so we are trying to take proportionate action to ensure that we can avoid that situation prevailing. It is the type of proportionate action that the Welsh Assembly Government has taken and the type of proportionate action that the United Kingdom Government is prepared to take should it judge that to be necessary. We are engaged in dialogue with those sectors. We have set out the basis on which the scheme will operate. Further details will be set out in due course, and will be implemented as the First Minister confirmed yesterday at 5am on 1 October. To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place for people to query their Covid-19 vaccine certification status if they believe that their records are incorrect. Any suspected errors in a person's Covid-19 vaccination record should be reported to the vaccination status helpline on 08081968565. The helpline can only resolve issues in relation to vaccinations administered in Scotland. We are aware that some health boards are experiencing increased requests to update vaccination records and people can do this via the helpline. People who receive their vaccine from a GP can still register online to receive their record of vaccination if required for international travel. It is very helpful, and I wrote the First Minister's answer to similar questions yesterday. Is the Cabinet Secretary able to give it any indication of when other anomalies in the system can be addressed, such as people who are working in the Middle East and the oil industry and have returned, having had their first vaccine out with Scotland or, indeed, some of the other examples that were raised yesterday in the Covid statement? Obviously, we are acting to address any particular issues that individuals face on a systemic basis. A number of the points in relation to the common travel area are being resolved, as we speak, and have been resolved already. We will work as expeditiously as we can to ensure that all the potential scenarios that emerge can be properly and fully addressed. Before moving on to the other group question 7, I remind members that I will take supplementaries on group questions after the end of question 7. If members wish to seek to have a supplementary, could they press the request-of-speak button? To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the anticipated criteria for exemption from the Covid-19 vaccine certification scheme. We have identified the following three criteria for exemptions under 18 years, participants in vaccine trials and people unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons. We are working on the medical conditions that would most closely be linked with an inability for a patient to be immunised. We expect the number of people in such a position to be very small. All clinical trial participants have already received a letter from the principal investigator, which can be used for proof of their trial status. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I know that he answered to my colleague Claire Adamson a minute ago, but I wonder if he could elaborate on those proposed guidelines for how those who got fully vaccinated abroad can also obtain a vaccine certificate or clearance to attend events where a certificate is required in Scotland. Where exemption is based on health grounds, does he anticipate the need for a doctor's or other medical note, or will the relevant individuals in some instances be able to self-report as needing an exemption? We are developing an approval process for medical exemptions and we will publish the detail of how that will work before implementation, along with the necessary guidance. Obviously, if there are any issues that arise out of that guidance, I would encourage people to contact the national helpline on the number that I gave earlier. In relation to the scenario where people are vaccinated in other countries, obviously, the scheme will recognise people who were vaccinated with an MHRA-approved vaccine. Before the scheme goes live, we will put in place an interim process to enable a Scottish resident who has had a dose outside Scotland to have their vaccine record updated. For visitors from the rest of the United Kingdom and the broader common travel area, we will be able to use their existing Covid status apps with QR codes and paper-based certificates to gain entry to relevant venues in Scotland. Supplementary, Murdo Fraser. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Just to fill up on that question from Fools and McGregor, there are visitors from other parts of the United Kingdom who will be travelling to events and football matches in Scotland but do not have apps, rather just paper proof of vaccination. Will there be guidance issued to venues and to football clubs as to what the appropriate certification needs to be for those in that category, given that it varies between different parts of the United Kingdom? Obviously, the guidance will be made available and we will continue to discuss with football authorities what information would be of relevance for them to have to guide the decisions that they will have to make in implementing the certification scheme. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the cabinet secretary provide any information on discussions around those particularly younger people who have not yet been able to receive a second dose of the vaccine due to being recently infected with Covid and how that will affect their ability to access events and venues that are covered by the certification scheme, given the likelihood that they too have developed antibodies? I suspect that the number of cases that will be involved in such a scenario will be relatively limited, but what I encourage individuals to do in such circumstances is to raise their circumstances with the national helpline. Should they be unable to have been vaccinated for the circumstances that Emirodic has outlined, we are obviously trying to ensure that we have in place a proportionate intervention that ensures that we strengthen the safety and minimise the risk of transmission in certain venues and boost the level of uptake into the bargain. Those are all the objectives that we are trying to achieve and we are encouraging individuals to secure the necessary vaccination certification to enable us to achieve the policy objectives of the intervention. I am delighted that QR codes are in place. Indeed, my constituents are. One travelled to France on 5 September. Unfortunately, the QR code did not work, so it did not have access to cafes, restaurants and museums. As you can imagine, it put quite a dampener on things. Can the cabinet secretary tell us if there have been reports of similar problems and how they will iron out such glitches in the system quickly? If Jackie Baillie wishes to share with me the details of that circumstance, I will, of course, have it investigated. There will inevitably be technical challenges in any roll-out of a scheme of this nature. We obviously tried to minimise that, where we identify particular problems and we worked to address them as quickly as possible. If Jackie Baillie wishes to furnish me with the details, I will certainly address that and respond directly to our constituent. I am sorry that our constituent was unable to access facilities as a consequence. To ask the Scottish Government how its policies and actions across Government will support mid-Scotland and Fife to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. We are actively supporting economic recovery in mid-Scotland and Fife as we are across the whole of Scotland. That includes more than £150 million to support local businesses and additional funding of more than £170 million for the areas for local authorities. We have committed more than £495 million across three city region deals in mid-Scotland, which will help to drive a sustainable recovery from the pandemic in the long term. That includes £25 million for an innovative investment programme in Fife that will support the growth of cutting-edge businesses that can deliver good, fair jobs for local people. While young people were the least likely to become ill during the pandemic, they have had a huge impact on their education, their mental health and their work. Many young people in my region are anxious about the long-term impact, and we must ensure that they do not translate into further inequalities. In the programmes that the cabinet secretary mentioned, how will they ensure that the generational impact of Covid is being addressed in the policies for recovery? Claire Baker raises a very fair point. Part of the economic interventions that the Government is taking forward is designed to create long-term, sustainable economic and employment opportunities for individuals. By their nature, that involves ensuring that the interests of young people are very much at the heart of the design of those interventions. By ensuring that all the interventions that I talked about in my original answer will have relationships with higher and further education institutions in the Mid-Scotland and Fife area, which Claire Baker will be familiar with. All those institutions will have particular roles and responsibilities in ensuring that the needs of young people are adequately and fully represented. I am confident that the challenges that young people have faced in the past 18 months to Covid can be properly and fully addressed by making sure that we have in place a skills, education and investment approach that meets their needs and ensures that they are able to access opportunities for the future and that they are in no way disadvantaged by the difficult experiences that they have had in the course of Covid. 6. Colin Beattie is joining us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Covid recovery secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding action to support the hospitality sector to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. I recognise the value of hospitality in tourism sectors and their importance in our recovery. I have regular dialogue with my colleagues as part of cabinet discussions. Those will be on-going as we prepare for the 2022-23 budget. We will continue to ensure that the budget prioritises recovery and we are aware that hospitality has been particularly hard hit. Over the past year, the Government has worked closely with sectoral organisations such as the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the UK hospitality and Scottish hospitality groups on the recovery, and support for the tourism and hospitality sectors has been designed to address the issues that they have drawn to our attention. Colin Beattie? I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. What support is being provided to retail and hospitality sectors who are facing the increasing issue of non-compliance regarding face coverings and physical distancing? Over the course of the past few weeks, as the Government has worked to address the high levels of infection that we have been experiencing, we have been engaged in a series of discussions with a range of business sectors, including retail, hospitality and tourism, to encourage their involvement in the application of the baseline measures such as the wearing of face coverings to provide maximum resistance to the circulation of the virus. In those discussions, I have to applaud the willingness of the retail, hospitality and tourism sectors to work with us. I think that some of the recent reductions in the level of caseload, which although still high, is lower than it was, is as a consequence of the response to our appeals for their support. In addition to that, there is obviously a great deal of public messaging that the Government is putting out and communicating to ensure that individuals are aware of the necessity of wearing face coverings and the advantages and protections that come from it. We will continue to share those messages with a wider audience to ensure that those baseline measures are in effective resistance to the circulation of the virus. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on cross-government co-ordination of Covid-19 recovery policies. The impact of Covid is such that it requires us to ensure that, across our public services, we have a coherent approach to the necessity of Covid-19 recovery. The member will be aware that the justice recovery plan was published in March, and the NHS recovery plan was published on 25 August. To ensure co-ordination and collaboration across the Scottish Government, a number of ministerial groups have been established to ensure that we take a collective view on the priorities for recovery. I will shortly publish the Covid recovery strategy that will set out how collectively we will ensure that actions at national and local level are prioritised, co-ordinated and targeted most effectively to meet the needs of people disproportionately disadvantaged by Covid-19. That work follows a number of months of open discussions involving Scotland's public, private and third sectors to allow them to shape the sort of recovery that Scotland requires. Some concern has been expressed over the transparency of Scottish Government spending on Covid-19 recovery. Last week, a report from the Auditor General warned that it is becoming increasingly hard to define what is and what is not Covid-19 spending. What steps will the cabinet secretary take to increase the transparency of Covid-19 spending? The Government publishes a vast amount of information on its public expenditure, down to very small items of public expenditure that are regularly publicly reported. I do not think that there is a shortage of information about public expenditure. Where I would probably agree with Audit Scotland is that it is challenging to distinguish between what is exclusively Covid-19 recovery expenditure and what might be wider public expenditure, given the fact that Covid-19 has had a cumulative effect on the Government's priorities. The question from Mr Lockhart is predicated on there being a need for cross-government co-ordination of Covid recovery policies, which rather suggests that there is a cross-government impact of Covid. We will continue to be as open and transparent as we possibly can do about public expenditure, but I think that a starting point of that analysis has to be an acceptance that Covid has had an effect on all areas of public expenditure and public policy, and as a consequence it is likely that public expenditure will be similarly influenced. That concludes portfolio questions on Covid-19 recovery and parliamentary business. The next portfolio questions is net zero energy and transport. Again, I remind members that if a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should press the request-to-speak button or indicate so in the chat function by entering the letter R during the relevant question. I start with question number 1, Rachael Hamilton. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the aspects of the strategic transport projects review regarding the Scottish Borders. The Borders Transport Corridor study emphasised the importance of a connected, safe, resilient and high quality strategic transport network for the Scottish Borders. The study's recommendations are now being appraised within STPR2. The appraisal involves consideration of a range of criteria to determine the social economic benefits and overall value for money. That also takes into account factors such as affordability, deliverability, risk and uncertainty. That is an important consideration given the pressures on current and future public finances. The review is due to conclude later this year with publication of recommendations and a statutory consultation period. In February's STPR2 and the recent programme for government, there was no mention of bringing forward a feasibility study to extend the Borders Railway. Yet in the Scottish Affairs Committee, Kate Forbes said that we are certainly committed to pursuing the process, which will hopefully deliver the extension, the deal of which we are signatories includes a commitment to progress that work. Can I ask the cabinet secretary when will the feasibility study begin, who is undertaking the study and how will the £10 million borderlands growth deal funding be spent? The member will be aware that part of the Borders growth deal is that we have committed £5 million towards the feasibility study. The feasibility study though is carried out after STPR2 has been complete. That identifies the rationale and the justification for whether an extension of the Borders Railway line should be taken for in the first place, which should then be followed by the feasibility study. That is exactly what has been proposed and that is exactly what continues to be the case. To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to young people in the run-up to COP26 to ensure that their views on climate change are listened to. Last week, we announced £300,000 support for the conference of youth, the UN's official youth event for COP26. Five young people from Scotland, for the first time, will join participants from around the world and help to shape the conference's statement. We are also supporting the young scot-led Scottish youth climate programme, which enables Scottish children and young people to host a climate youth summit ahead of COP, to design the legacy that they want from COP and to act as local champions across the country. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. We all know that our young people will live with the decisions that we make today the longest. Given that and the climate youth conference that you mentioned being the platform where young people can be heard on these issues, can the cabinet secretary outline how ideas and suggestions put forward at said conference will be taken forward to COP26 and how Scottish outcomes based on that will be measured? It is extremely important that the voice of children and young people is fully integrated into the approach that COP takes in coming to any consideration around tackling climate change in Glasgow. That is why we have committed to funding the COP youth summit, which will allow the young people who have come together to set out the statement, which will then be submitted directly to COP26 to be considered by international leaders. It is absolutely critical that the voice of young people is right at the very heart of considerations around COP. The funding of the youth conference for the UN is a specific example of the proactive action that the Scottish Government is taking in order to ensure that children and young people's voices are heard. A younger generation will have to deal with the consequences of our decision at COP26 and in the future. It is essential that they have put an input into designing what the outcome of COP26 will be. 3. Megan Gallacher I am sorry, Ms Gallacher. You have not got your microphone on. Could you please put your card in? I apologise, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting its target of planting 30 million trees by the end of 2021 and whether it has achieved the 22 million target last year. 4. Mary McCallan I thank the Scottish Government's woodland creation target for 2021-22 to plant 13,500 hectares, which equates to approximately 27 million trees. Between April 2020 and March 2021, we created 10,660 hectares of new woodland, which is approximately 22 million trees. 5. Megan Gallacher The SNP Green Coalition deal was struck after the decision to honour the Greens' manifesto pledge to double the number of wind farms in Scotland by 2030. In February last year, statistics released by Forestry and Land Scotland showed that 13.9 million trees have been axed to make way for 21 wind farm projects since 2000. That will not only disturb natural habitats of many endangered animals, but it could also impact climate change targets. Therefore, how many mature trees will be lost because of the manifesto pledge? That is a detailed and technical question. If the member is agreeable, I will take away and provide a written note to answer, but I point out to the member that this Parliament voted for the world's most ambitious climate targets and that we have an obligation to meet them. One of the reasons that Scotland can be so ambitious is because of the ample scope in our natural environment to sequester carbon and to support biodiversity. The question of land use and land use change over the next five to ten years is going to be a very pertinent one, and I hope that we can all work together on that. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve journey times on the Dumfries to Glasgow and Stranraer to air railway services to help reduce emissions from the use of other modes of transport. 75 per cent of all passenger services are currently undertaken by zero-emission trains, with the remainder to be decarbonised by 2035. That will potentially provide journey times savings through the use of more efficient, cleaner trains across south-west Scotland. Options to replace class 156 diesels, which currently run on the Dumfries Galloway and Stranraer air routes, are being considered. Those options include self-powered fleets with battery or hydrogen fuel cells. Emma Harper? There are only four trains per day on the single track Stranraer line, which takes two hours and twenty minutes to get to Glasgow, compared to just two hours by car. On the Dumfries line, it takes one hour and fifty-nine minutes to get to Glasgow by train, but only an hour and a half by car. Given the climate emergency and the need to reduce journeys by car, can the minister outline if there is a potential to increase the frequency of the trains on those lines and outline when the diesel lines will be decarbonised, which will improve journey times? The proposed May 2022 timetable seeks to improve services in the south-west of Scotland by increasing the number of services and capacity compared to the present day timetable. It is proposed that there will be an additional six air-stranraer services compared to the current timetable, and services from Glasgow to Dumfries and beyond will increase by five. Overall, there will be an additional 1,000 seats on a daily basis across the south-west service group to help to encourage modal shift. The study is also under way to examine potential line speed improvements and use of faster rolling stock that may become available as a consequence of changes elsewhere on the network. That will be subject to the usual affordability constraints. I am pleased that Emma Harper has asked the Government about its commitment to improve journey times and reduce emissions, because, right now, the proposals on the table would appear to be slashing rail services in the south of Scotland. The Government has the powers to halt them. Is the minister not aware that those are double standards and that he makes a total mockery of its commitment towards tackling climate change and just another attack on rural areas? Will he confirm that rail services will indeed increase over the next few years? I hast to jump up and ask a supplementary question. Clearly, Mr Castlem was not listening, so I will repeat what I said. It is proposed that there will be an additional six air to strand rail services compared to the current timetable, and services from Glasgow to Dumfries and beyond will increase by five. There will be an additional 1,000 seats on a daily basis across the south-west service group to help to encourage modal shift. I am sure that having listened to this, Mr Castlem will welcome the news. Question 5 was not lodged. I move on to question number 6, Fiona Hyslop. To ask the Scottish Government how commitments in the programme for government will help to secure a net zero nation. This programme for government will deliver lasting action to end Scotland's contribution to climate change, restoring our nature and enhancing climate resilience crucially in a just and fair way. Specifically, the measures on a green transport revolution and how we heat our homes will exhilarate action to reduce significant emissions. Concurrently, our comprehensive and cross-governmental response to the previous Just Transition Commission sets out our ambitious agenda and first steps on delivery, delivering a just transition for Scotland, including a skills guarantee for workers in carbon intensive sectors and the development of the energy just transition plans. Fiona Hyslop. It is clear that retrofitting of housing and business will be key in meeting targets for net zero. Can the cabinet secretary set out what plans there are in the coming year to embark on this massive challenge and can he provide assurance that an independent advice service will be easily accessible to homeowners and small businesses? We are taking a number of steps in this area, some of which we touched upon in the debate just yesterday. That includes investing over the course of an x5 year sum £1.8 billion to help to support and exhilarate the deployment of heat and energy efficiency measures in homes and buildings across the country. Alongside that, given the nature of the scale of this transition, we are establishing a national public energy agency in order to help to educate the public on the changes required to bring new co-ordination and leadership to harness the potential of the programme of decarbonisation, which has been necessary across domestic and non-domestic premises over the course of the next 20 years. I can assure the member that household and small businesses will continue to have access to comprehensive bespoke and independent advice via Home Energy Scotland and Energy Efficiency Business Support Service to support the transition. The programme for government commits to securing between 8 and 12 gigawatts of installed onshore wind by 2030 to help net zero targets. Between 2013 and 2020, S&P ministers directly ruled in favour of 62 onshore wind farms despite receiving 21,500 representations. Will the S&P review the planning system for onshore wind farms to ensure that local councils are properly resourced to deal with such applications and ensure that the S&P respects the wishes of local people? The member will recognise what is always the competing interest between the need to make sure that we take forward measures that can tackle climate change while also competing against the needs of local communities, which is always one of the balances in any planning process. I imagine that we are aware that we are currently reviewing our national planning framework, which will take into account some of the issues that have been raised around planning over recent years and how that can remain compatible with achieving net zero. I assure the member that we will always try to balance those things out in an appropriate way, while at the same time making sure that we meet the statutory targets that all parties in this Parliament supported in order to become a net zero country by 2045. To ask the Scottish Government how it will support Scotland's move to a circular economy. The programme for government outlines our commitment to introducing a circular economy bill this parliamentary session. It will put in place legislative measures to support and encourage reduction of consumption, reuse, repair and recycling so as to reduce waste. There are significant economic opportunities in building a circular economy, including job creation, steps towards a wellbeing economy, as well as reduction in litter on our beaches and streets. We continue to support businesses to reduce waste and increase recycling, reuse and repair through Zero Waste Scotland. We have launched a £70 million fund in this march for local authorities to use to improve their recycling systems. We are working on introducing extended producer responsibility schemes, including our deposit return scheme for single use drinks containers, and major reforms to existing UK-wide packaging schemes to reduce waste and litter and increase recycling. Maurice Golden I thank the minister for that answer. Easy question. Can the minister confirm that the deposit return scheme will be fully operational and launched, as promised, on 1 July 2022? We recognise the significant impact that Covid-19 and the EU exit has had on the drinks industry and other sectors with responsibility for delivering the Scotland's deposit return scheme. We remain fully committed to implementing the UK's first-ever deposit return scheme. We want to ensure that we have a go live date that is ambitious and deliverable. The industry has made a positive start on the delivery, including the establishment of a scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland. However, Covid-19 and the EU exit have had significant impacts on the businesses that would make the scheme a success. I am sorry, minister. Can you resume your seat for a second? I really do not want all this secondary harping, please. Please listen to the minister's answer. In light of those challenges and in line with our commitment to continue monitoring the impact of the pandemic, we commissioned an independent review of the impact of Covid-19 on the go live date of the scheme. We have also been considering wider feedback from stakeholders like small businesses. We will update Parliament on businesses shortly. Our ambitious deposit return scheme will play an important part in helping to cut emissions, increase recycling rates, reduce littering, and build a more circular economy in Scotland. Does the minister agree that there should be a moratorium on new large-scale incinerators and will she commend the Dove Steel Action Group in South Lanarkshire for its commitment to reducing waste and building a circular economy? I commend anyone who is working to reduce waste and build a circular economy. That is what we are all here to work together to do. I am glad to see support on this matter from across the chamber. With regard to the incineration, we will update Parliament on our plans for the review of incineration before the end of September. I know that a number of stakeholders have raised the need to have a short review period and we are considering this carefully. Responsibility for dealing with planning applications and local planning matters rests, in the first instance, with the relevant planning authority. As a matter of law, all planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. You will appreciate that the Scottish ministers are not able to offer comment or judgment on specific live cases. To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains supportive of opportunity northeast ambition of establishing an energy transition zone adjacent to the new Aberdeen South Harbour. The Scottish Government remains supportive of opportunity northeast ambitions for establishing an energy transition zone. I have committed some £26 million of funding to support that development. Site selection for the energy transition zone is primarily a matter for local partners and the planning authority, in this case Aberdeen City Council. Douglas Lameston I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. It is now clear that when it comes to energy transition and net zero, the SNP is the junior partners in this coalition of chaos. Support for the oil and gas business has gone, support for the A96 Julian has gone and no firm support for the energy transition zone plans. With this coalition, we can see that the tail is certainly wagging the dog. When will the cabinet secretary start standing up to the Greens and protect jobs in the north-east? Cabinet secretary, let's deal with the fact rather than the empty rhetoric from the member. So £62 million into the energy transition zone within the north-east of Scotland to help to support the skills base. It will be critical to supporting the transition to zero-carbon emission technology going forward. A commitment that is driving forward changes within industry and I know is welcomed by those within the north-east that are committed to the transition. Alongside that, £500 million has been invested in the north-east and Murray in the years ahead to support the transition. I hope that the member will find it in his heart. His ability to welcome that £500 million and will be big enough to stand up to his partners in London and say, match the ambition of the Scottish Government, match it by providing £500 million in the way in which the Scottish Government is demonstrating this Government's commitment to the north-east of Scotland and a just transition. Thank you. That concludes portfolio questions. Before moving on to the next item of business, which is follow-on business, I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the Holyrood campus.