Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies - written statement

Monitoring

Local Government and Communities Committee

1. The Committee requests that the Scottish Government provides it with an annual update on performance on areas specific to its remit, with the potential to schedule further updates as and when required. (227)

• The Scottish Government will publish an Annual Progress Report on the Monitoring Framework, and make this available to SPICe, detailing how each sector is performing against the indicators set out in the Plan. The monitoring framework will evolve over time as we learn lessons from initial implementation and we welcome the opportunity for ongoing engagement with the Parliament on this.

Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee

1. The Committee asked for further discussion with the Scottish Government on issues of timing of publication of the annual summary monitoring reports and the alignment of these with other key documents. (375)

• The first Annual Progress Report on Monitoring will be published in October 2018. The timing of subsequent reports will be confirmed following further discussions with the Scottish Parliament and the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

2. The Committee recommended that the Scottish Government publish an update on the monitoring framework in advance of the publication of the final Plan, to allow this to be scrutinised by the Committee. (354)

• As recommended by the Committee, the Scottish Government has embedded the monitoring framework into the Plan to show clearly how each sector is monitoring its progress. For this reason it was not possible to share the monitoring framework outwith the context of the full Plan ahead of its publication. The monitoring framework will evolve over time as we learn lessons from initial implementation.

3. The Committee sought a commitment from the Scottish Government that it will have the opportunity to review the draft monitoring framework prior to the publication of the final Plan. (335)

• The Director of Energy and Climate Change provided an update to the Committee on the development of the monitoring framework on 7 November 2017 and 30 January 2018. As recommended by the Committee, the Scottish Government has embedded the monitoring framework into the Plan to show clearly how each sector is monitoring its progress.

4. The Committee recommended that progress reports should follow the format contained in the final Plan. The Committee made several recommendations on this, including embedding the monitoring and evaluation across policies and proposals sections of the Plan. (379)

• The format for the first Annual Progress Report will follow the format set out in the final Plan as closely as possible. The monitoring framework will evolve over time as we learn lessons from initial implementation.

5. The Committee recommended that the final Plan include the detail outlined in the "Structure of the final Plan - embedding monitoring and evaluation across policies and proposals" section of its report, drawing on commentary from each section, for each policy and proposal. Further, each policy and delivery route should contain detail, supported by evidence or data, to show precisely how it will be achieved. (391, 392)

• The monitoring framework has been embedded in the final Plan, as recommended by the Scottish Parliament. Improvement and learning underpins the monitoring framework. We will continue to develop the framework, working with the Parliament, the CCC and other stakeholders as we learn from the implementation process.

6. The Committee recommended that the final Plan should make it clear how performance will be measured and how successes in some areas will not allow struggling sectors to reduce their efforts at future TIMES Model runs. (215)

• The monitoring framework has been embedded in the final Plan, as recommended by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government will use policy output indicators to determine if implementation of the Plan is on track and flag any policy area that needs attention.
• The Plan takes a whole-system approach to emissions reductions, reflecting the cross sector nature of greenhouse gas emissions. Performance of sectors will be considered within this wider system. Any underperformance of the emissions envelope for one sector will therefore need to be made up through working harder in others. Any sector over performance that leads to the overall targets being outperformed would represent a bonus, as the statutory requirements do not allow for this to be banked against future targets.

Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee

1. The Committee recommended that additional details on budgets, targets, timelines and policies should be included in the Plan, consistent with that provided in the earlier Reports on Proposals and Policies, in order to ensure that all those involved in delivering the Plan are fully informed and able to do so. (EJFW 16)

• The Scottish Government will use the monitoring framework, which is embedded in the Plan, to monitor progress against indicators to determine if implementation of the Plan is on track and flag any policy area that needs attention. An annual monitoring report will be made available to Parliament. We aim to publish the first report in October 2018.

Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

1. The Committee called on the Scottish Government to include in the monitoring framework clear plans for when policies and proposals will be implemented, as well as measurable SMART targets, progress indicators and milestones. (24)

• The monitoring framework includes measurable SMART targets, progress indicators and milestones where possible. Timescales for implementation of policies and proposals have also been included where possible. These will be developed over time by sectors where data is currently not available.