Open Government action plan 2021 to 2025 - commitment 4: climate change

Progress to June 2024

Commitment 4: climate change

Milestone

Deliver six monthly network meetings (February and August).

Progress and next steps

Plan: Bi-annual member meetings to offer discussion, reviews, feedback on previous six months and a forward-look of the next six months. 

Success criteria: Participation from at least 50% of the network membership across a range of interests (monitored by attendance and feedback after meeting). 

Update: First meeting was held on 22 February with input from Climate Adaptation colleagues.

Success criteria: Ability to use the meetings for continuous improvement purposes. Six monthly meetings suggested but members will give feedback on frequency. 

Update: The purpose of the first members meeting was to re-affirm Scottish Government’s commitment to the Climate Policy Engagement Network (CPEN) and discuss how members how to make best use of CPEN. 

Success criteria: Co-creation of milestones and terms of reference (TOR) by wider CPEN membership where feedback is sought. 

Update: Members were asked to provide feedback via Jamboard on what their expectations are of CPEN and what they would like to get out of it, how can CPEN support their engagement with Scottish Government (SG), and expectations of other members of CPEN.  These have been integrated into the milestones and will be used to update TOR.

Status

On schedule.

Milestone

Ensure a robust network.

Progress and next steps

Plan: Continually evaluate the progress and success of the network, prioritising listening to member feedback, ensure continued engagement, relevancy and Scottish Government and members’ satisfaction with the network’s functions. 

Success criteria: Representativeness of the network, including coverage of climate/non-climate sectors, and demographics/protected characteristics (monitored through digital platform and annual member survey).

Update: Current membership has a wide reach, covering both climate and non-climate organisations, and different geographies and demographics of Scotland. Member organisations includes representatives from the public sector, equality groups, community organisations, academia and more. Monitoring of membership is ongoing. 

Success criteria: Overall positive satisfaction by members with ability to engage and influence (monitored through annual member survey) as well as members posting on CPEN. 

Update: Membership is keen to engage and there was a reasonable attendance of the members meeting (27 members).  A members survey was also circulated after the meeting however there was no engagement with this. 

Members relayed at the members meeting that they would be keen to hear from other members. Discussion ongoing on whether this should be left to develop naturally.

Status

On schedule.

Milestone

Develop opportunities for CPEN members to contribute to the Scottish Government’s wider climate change policy development.

Progress and next steps

Plan: SG team to present opportunities for members to advise on engagement activity across DG Net Zero, members to opt in to opportunities where they see their advice relevant.  

Success criteria: Broad involvement of Scottish Government officials and at least 3 engagement opportunities from this across at least 3 policy areas. 

Update: Climate Change Adaptation (and Water and Wastewater and Flooding policy teams have engaged with members on impact assessments). Following ask from members to make sure feedback is given on how their contribution will be used a post was put on CPEN to give this feedback.

Members have also asked for information sessions on consultations – climate adaptation colleagues will be holding an information session on their consultation in April.   

The team have presented to the Deputy Director (DD) for the Behaviours and Engagement Unit on opportunities and challenges associated with CPEN. DD raised CPEN at a DD meeting to raise awareness at senior leadership level across government. The team have also sent an email to all Net Zero and climate related policy areas to disseminate an ask template for using the network and to explain the benefits of using the network. This has been reissued by the DD for the Behaviours and Engagement Unit. More opportunities for CPEN members to engage on climate policy and engagement plans are likely to be achieved through this.

Status

On schedule.

Milestone

Develop opportunities for CPEN members to contribute to Scottish Government Just Transition Plans.

Progress and next steps

Plan: SG team to present opportunities for members to advise on engagement activity for Just Transition Plans (JTPs), members to opt in to opportunities where they see their advice relevant.

Success criteria: At least 4 opportunities for network members to opt in to advise on JTP engagement activity (monitored through digital platform).  

Update: 6 opportunities to advise on the upcoming JTPs through engagement using the JTP Discussion Papers. Activity covered place-based engagement, business and public sector, and industry-specific engagement sessions.

Success criteria: At least 10 members to advise on each opportunity (monitored through digital platform).  

Update: More than 10 stakeholders advised on each opportunity, although the engagement activity was usually open to audiences outside the Network too, so it has not been determined how many network members advised on each opportunity.   

Success criteria: Feedback will be provided to the network on the outcomes of their involvement at the end of engagement activity (monitored through digital platform).  

Status

On schedule.

Milestone

Develop opportunities for CPEN members to contribute to the Scottish Government Climate Change Plan.

(Please note, SG announced a delay to the draft CCP publication in November 2023. SG will resume stakeholder engagement on the CCP in due course).

Progress and next steps

Plan: SG team to present opportunities for members to advise on engagement activity for the Climate Change Plan (CCP), members to opt in to opportunities where they see their advice relevant. 

Success criteria: At least 4 opportunities for network members to opt in to advise on CCP engagement activity (monitored through digital platform).  

Update: Members were made aware of the delay to the CCP at the members meeting and this was included in the minute of the meeting which was posted on CPEN.

Success criteria: At least 10 members advise on each opportunity (monitored through digital platform).

Status

In progress (delayed).