Speeches by Downie.

“7. What recent progress his Department has made on implementing a digital ID scheme.”

“Dunfermline is both Scotland’s ancient capital and its newest city, and we are starting to plan for what Dunfermline can become and how it can truly fulfil its potential. I have launched a survey to ensure that local people have a great say in that, and can give me their ideas about what the city should be. Will the Le…”

“Would you see that changing in the future if we have more offshore wind farms, or do you think the target should be for the number of those to come down and the role of interconnectors to go up? Or is it roughly what you would expect?”

“Again, it is the Treasury’s measurement of what constitutes public good versus business investment: “This should be a business cost, therefore you are on your own,” or, “This is a public good, and you should”—”

“I want to move on to talk about interconnectors and their role in supply-side flexibility, but I am not even going to start the question because the bell is about to go—[Interruption.]”

“Is it something that is more useful in an emergency or an unexpected event, rather than something that would be considered part of a programme?”

“There needs to be some incentive. Finally, given our costs are much higher than most of our trading partners, are other countries doing something better than us in this regard? Are there any lessons we can learn particularly?”

“Thank you. I will keep it short and to the point; I am still out of breath. How can the Government balance flexibility through interconnectors and develop new sources of supply-side flexibility? I will give that to Kat.”

“Do you know of any other examples where particularly commercial and industrial businesses have managed to keep their electricity costs down in this way?”

“Can we be confident that the savings from reducing the structural inefficiencies in how we trade electricity with the EU will actually pass through to British consumers? Kat, I would be happy if you could start off.”

“Does that come back to your earlier point about the weather being the same, the conditions being the same, and you are going to see similar conditions regardless?”

“That is the balance.”

“Kat has just outlined the role of interconnectors in supply-side flex. Do they have a role in keeping energy costs down, and do they have any role additional to that?”

“I want to move on to talk about interconnectors and their role in supply-side flexibility, but I am not even going to start the question because the bell is about to go—[Interruption.]”

“Just to pick up on your point about cost, would there be any cost impact of building less offshore and importing more at peak need?”

“Thank you. I will keep it short and to the point; I am still out of breath. How can the Government balance flexibility through interconnectors and develop new sources of supply-side flexibility? I will give that to Kat.”

“Is it something that is more useful in an emergency or an unexpected event, rather than something that would be considered part of a programme?”

“You do not see a risk that, for that reason, increased use or reliance on interconnectors would dissuade from domestic energy production?”

“How do we do that? Perhaps a better question is: what is the role of Government in doing that? Do we need to find a way for businesses to organise and ask Government? As you say, that is the largest group we need to get to. How do we get them? They want to do this, if they see a benefit. Is it Government support? Where…”

“You have alluded to my next question, which is, what is the risk of not doing this, beyond the jobs? How does that impact on businesses? What is the cost of not taking this kind of action and not making that available?”