the next site of business is a statement by ferguson on unconventional oil and gas the minister will take questions at the end of his statements and there should therefore not be any interim intervention interruptions conflict issuing minister 10 minutes by the officer the scottish government has long been concerned about the approach of the uk government to the licensing of unconventional oil and gas in scotland following the smith commission process and given the licensing powers are coming to scotland something that i campaigned for and that i welcome it makes no sense for the uk government to exercise them in scotland the scottish government's policy has been cautious considered and evidence-based the uk's approach has sought to develop shale gas quickly at any cost in particular the conservative plan to remove landowners rights to object to fracking under their property is a disgrace i formally objected to the uk government plans and i was pleased that the uk will not now remove householders rights in scotland given the precedent of not acting on a policy area about to be devolved the uk government should now do the same with onshore licensing and should not issue any further licenses i wrote to energy secretary ed davey last friday to make this point this was also why snp mps backed the amendment in the commons which called for a uk-wide moratorium on oil and gas on onshore oil and gas presiding officer this government takes the issue of unconventional oil and gas including fracking very seriously there are a range of views on the issue and we have tried to listen to all of them as we have developed our policy we have listened carefully to concerns raised by local communities and environmental campaigners and we have strengthened planning policy in five key ways including by the introduction of buffer zones for the first time however we need to do more we recognize that local communities are likely to bear the brunt of any unconventional oil and gas developments particularly in terms of increased traffic and related emissions and noise impacts these are issues that must be more carefully considered and be the subject of further research we are therefore working to further strengthen planning guidance and my colleague alex neal as minister responsible for planning is taking this forward we've ensured strong environmental regulation is in place via scottish environment protection agency and made clear that we wish to tighten this further and working with my colleague the minister for the environment dr mcleod work to take that forward will begin shortly last summer when the independent expert scientific panel published the report we said that we would look further at the public health aspects of unconventional oil and gas i can therefore confirm today that we plan to commission a full public health impact assessment we have listened to legitimate concerns about potential negative impacts however we must also acknowledge that some take a different view and see opportunities in unconventional oil and gas extraction the oil and gas industry in particular has a potential interest in this area for a number of reasons as do the chemical industry ineos have indicated that they can use shale gas as both a fuel and a petrochemical feedstock for grangemouth and i'm sure that i do not need to remember to remind members of the economic importance of grangemouth to the scottish economy and of course while much of the debate on oil and gas taxation has been about revenues from our offshore oil fields onshore extraction could lead to additional public revenues there is also an international dimension to unconventionals and we should have due regard to the experience and practice of other countries if there are lessons to be learned then we must understand what those are and implement them here we will seek to do that as part of our evidence gathering activities planning officer i want to ensure that the voices of the communities likely to be most affected are heard and are heard in a more formal and structured way i'm therefore announcing today that in addition to the technical work i've referred to on planning environmental regulation and upon assessing the impact of public health scottish ministers will also launch a full public consultation on unconventional oil and gas extraction this will allow everyone with a view on this issue to feed it into government a logical next step in the cautious and evidence-based approach we have demonstrated to date and an example of this government's commitment to community engagement it also means that the longer terms decisions on unconventional oil and gas will be informed not just by technical assessments but also by fuller understanding of public opinion planning officer i've set out this government's cautious evidence-based approach to date and the work we will do to build on and further inform that approach the further work that i've announced today on planning on environmental regulation on health impact assessment and a full consultation process will take time to complete we will update parliament on the time scales for that work in due course given the importance of this work it would be inappropriate to allow any planning consents in the meantime i'm therefore announcing today a moratorium on the granting of planning consents for all unconventional oil and gas dwellings including fracking this moratorium will continue until such time as the work i've referred to today has been completed i will keep parliament advised of the progress of that work a direction will be sent to all scottish planning authorities today to give effect to that policy in order to ensure consistency in the regulatory regimes the environment minister dr mccloud will issue a similar direction to cipa for relevant new controlled activity regulation licenses presiding officer this scottish government has taken a responsible cautious and evidence-based approach to unconventional oil and gas extraction and my statement today sends the strongest possible message that we will continue to do so when we assume responsibility for onshore licensing of unconventional oil and gas rest assured that my colleague mr neil and i will deliver a planning system it will deliver a robust consistent and complementary licensing and planning system that will be developed through the evidence from our consultation and further research announced today we should never close our minds to the potential opportunities of new technologies but we must also ensure that community environmental and health concerns are never simply brushed aside this government will not allow that to happen and i hope the actions i have announced today will be widely welcomed as proportionate and responsible the minister will now take questions on issues raised in his statement i intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we moved to next out of business it would be helpful members who wish to ask a question where to press a request to speak but now and i call lewis mcdonald thank you very much presiding officer and nobody who knows him will be surprised that mr ewing used the word cautious four times in his short statement today i thank him for an advanced copy of his statement but the most important words he used today were that we need to do more and indeed the scottish government needs to do much more if it is to meet public concern about this issue labour has pressed for early devolution of licensing powers following the smith agreement the response of some of those behind the minutes that is very revealing indeed and shows how selective they are in the way in which they have followed this issue we have pressed for that early devolution of licensing powers but the key issue is how ministers use the planning and environmental consenting powers they already have so i want to ask the minister today in spite of his instinct for caution if he will add some more to what he has to have to say about those issues this afternoon labor at westminster added 13 specific conditions where in dealing with the issues that are raised labor has added 13 specific conditions to the infrastructure bill which must be met before consent can be given to fracking 10 of which are in devolved areas will the scottish government now endorse these 13 conditions so that the consensus regime in scotland will be at least as tough as that in the rest of the united kingdom will the minister today match scottish labour's commitment that scotland will not be first to flock in the uk that fracking will not happen here until lessons have been learned from elsewhere and will the scottish government now agree that no fracking project can proceed without the support of a local community expressed in a local referendum minister well presiding officer it's the hope of the scottish government that we can build the widest consensus and coalition behind the measures that we've announced today and the measures that we've announced today i believe are characterized as lewis mcdonald has recognized and a cautious approach on which the evidence is the central foundation of the decisions that should be taken i believe as a lawyer and as an msp that that profoundly is the correct approach today we have announced that there is now a moratorium in scotland on unconventional oil and gas extraction that moratorium will prevent any grant of planning permission uh until such time as we have completed the work which i've announced today it is therefore not necessary to hold local referenda on these issues because no planning permission will be granted whilst the moratorium is in place uh where and let me say this gently to donald who who whose colleagues in westminster on one hand say that they wish to stop fracking but on the other hand when they have an opportunity to vote to halt fracking abstain or just don't turn up that is a very funny way to show their approach it may be as the former labour leader in scotland said presiding officer that scottish labour is a branch office but under new management it appears that nothing very much has changed and if i could point out so far as the local referenda is concerned that the track record on the labour party in holding local referenda is not suspicious because when they held a referenda in aberdeen on the union terrace proposals the people said yes but labour said no more can i thank the minister for the advanced copy of his statement but it looks like his need to not be outflanked by labour on this issue means he has suffered a humiliating defeat in his war with joan mccalpin it must be a source of regret that so much of this debate is characterized by political posturing rather than being evidence-led and science based and that the scottish government would rather play politics than take decisions in the best interests of the scottish economy yesterday tom crotty from ineos said if scotland doesn't embrace shale gas we could see a collapse in manufacturing it was little more than a year ago that every major party in this parliament came together to help secure the future of the ineos grangemount plant with the thousands of jobs which rely upon it now the scottish government has taken a decision to cut off any domestic supply of shale gas to grangemouth which ineos say would help secure jobs for the future instead they will have to continue to import shale gas from the usa so can the minister tell us is it really the scottish government's position that fracking is fine as long as it happens in pennsylvania but not in our backyard minister it's our position that in scotland we should look at the evidence pertaining to scotland that evidence does not exist that was the conclusion of our independent panel last year who said there were considerable gaps as to our knowledge in relation to hydraulic fracturing in scotland let me say presiding officer and repeat and i as i referred to in my original statement that we engage closely with ineos we meet with them regularly we want in the consultation that i have announced today to hear everyone's views as i made absolutely clear that would include the views of ineos and of course the chemical sector as it includes views of individuals and communities throughout the country i do think that myrtle really overstates and exaggerates his case mr crotty made it clear in the newspapers yesterday that the supply of gas which they required to continue their operation uh is a power contract that has been secured for 13 years we welcome that not only did we welcome that but mr swinney and the former first minister were fully involved in supporting and helping to facilitate those arrangements but if i could turn to the approach that his colleagues in england are taking i first characterized that approach as gung ho their approach is to carry out fracking any time any place anywhere it seems to me presiding officer that one inevitable consequence as we've seen where planning applications have been put down southern england is inevitable conflict and confrontation leading i suspect to challenges in the court and therefore and therefore could i suggest that the conservatives and conclusion presiding officer revert to the approach which they advocated in their policy document of january 2013 which was to take an evidence-based approach on these maps i have many members who wish to ask a question can i ask for the questions and the answer to be as brief as possible and i might just get to the end of the list angus mcdonald followed by lee mcarthur thank you president officer the minister will be aware of my significant constituency interest therefore can you tell me how today's statement affects the live planning application for unconventional gas extraction in earth in my constituency and in addition can i warmly welcome the moratorium including the commitment to conduct a full public health impact assessment and a full public consultation on ug extraction can the minister give an assurance that evidence will be gathered from experiences in other parts of the globe not just in the uk minister yes i recognize that angus mcdonald has a consistency and long campaign for his constituents on these matters and i pay tribute to his industry and also the way he's pursued these issues and therefore his representations helped to form part of the process that persuaded us that we do need to consider the public health impacts so i'm happy to confirm that today so far as the impacts on existing uh on existing planning applications the moratorium uh cannot apply it retroactively to those applications that have already been granted but it will be obviously applicable uh with immediate effect and the chief planner of scotland and my colleague mr neil of course are taking that forward liam mccarthy christina mckelvey thank you presiding officer uh can i thank the minister for advanced site of his statement it's been fascinating presiding obviously to watch labour in the snp try to outdo each other inside being skeptical about fracking which they both support to be clear is mr ewing saying that after all the consultations assessments and impact studies have been completed will he as energy minister be ruling out signing any contract for fracking in scotland minister well the whole point of obtaining evidence as i've announced today in a whole series of fronts and a variety of issues which are of genuine concern as i think mr mcarthur would acknowledge certainly some of his colleagues do is to consider the evidence once we have it not to prejudge the evidence before we have obtained it or sought it so plainly the we will not prejudge the outcome of the process that we have set out today i do however hope presiding officer that the plea that i made to ed davey his colleague recently that no further licences should be issued in scotland following the principle that amber rudd set out by disapplying from scotland the proposal which the liberals and conservatives put forward to confiscate rights of householders to object to activities under their households now that that precedent has been set then surely a liam macarthur and the scottish liberals will say that no further licences should be granted by their colleagues who are in coalition government with the conservatives i very much hope they will speak out on that issue christine mckelvey followed by jack bailey thank you very much president officer does the minister agree with friends of the earth scotland head of campaigns mary church who said and i quote it was a surprise that scottish labour mps mostly abstained in the vote on a uk wide moratorium on fracking on a vote in westminster on monday given the party's new commitment over the weekend and does the minister agree with me that this exposed very clearly labour's posturing on fracking to be nothing more than a disgraceful shameless sham minister that didn't relate to the items in your statement jackie bailey let me give the minister another chance to provide clarity on the government's position and can i ask the minister for a yes no response to two elements of labour's triple lock system firstly does he agree that there will be no fracking in scotland until we learn lessons from the rest of the united kingdom because i didn't hear an answer to that when lewis mcdonald asked the question and secondly by his own statement the moratorium is not indefinite so will he agree to local referenda when applications are submitted or is he denying communities a voice on issues affecting their area well i have announced today that there will be and there is a moratorium on granting planning permission for the extraction of unconventional oil and gas that means and let me put this absolutely clearly that no planning permissions will be granted for that activity the scottish government position is therefore totally clear a moratorium applies there will be no planning permissions granted i'm not quite sure what part of that is unclear but let me turn to jackie bailey's second part of her question about the the points that they have raised including local referenda local referenda according to the initial advice that we have had it would be complex costly difficult to ascertain the electorate by the nature of our activity where fracking applies beneath the ground in an extended fashion and therefore it would be impossible to ascertain the electorate and therefore it is not as a process which is sensible or indeed part of planning law at the moment however because we've announced today presiding officer a moratorium then the questions that jackie bailey arrives raises do not arise in conclusion presiding officer it seems that the labour position is not so much a triple lock as a total joke dmd followed by sierra thank you can i warmly welcome the statement in particular its delivery of a moratorium but can i ask the minister to say what steps the government will take to ensure that the consultation process is as far reaching as possible so the voices of the people of scotland are held on the issue of unconventional oil and gas extraction minister we can all agree in this chamber that it is right that decisions about these matters are taken in scotland and we have the opportunity we open 216 to take decisions armed not solely with some of the relevant levers such as planning and environmental regulation but also licensing which of course is the key lever and that is why it is so important and therefore it is absolutely right as mr day suggests that we should have a wide consultation of the people in scotland because the people of scotland who we represent are entitled to and should have the opportunity in participating in a debate about a proposal of a technology which although not new in any sense will be newly applied in scotland so mr d is absolutely right we intend to announce the consultation and around about two months it will lapse last for 12 weeks the standard period and i very much look forward to engaging with all of the people of scotland in this debate sarah boyer followed by willow coffee will the minister confirm that he will consider the implications of fracking and coal bed methane in relation to climate change in particular will he address the issues of fugitive emissions and the research that is now out there given that the scottish government has failed to meet its own climate targets in the first three years minister yes i can confirm that that of course is one of the relevant issues which myself and dr macleod will consider carefully in the course of the evidence gathering exercise that i've set out today willie coffee followed by cleveland thank you can the minister clarify that the granting of further licences by the uk government cannot circumvent scotland's planning system where these applications will be determined well that is the purpose of the moratorium presiding officer the moratorium is to use the powers that we have in order to ensure that we can obtain the necessary evidence have the consultation the time set out however in response to mr coffey's question i would point out and it is a matter of fact that planning decisions can be challenged through the courts they are subject to challenged by judicial review in other ways and the only means that scotland can take full power and control and decision-making and represent the people of scotland on this matter is by restoration to scotland of all powers on these matters including not just planning but licensing as well for the village for by rob gibson uh can the minister explain where the scottish government moratorium leaves communities such as cannonbee in my region where permission for cold bed methane extraction has already been granted and in this regard will the minister agree with me that however robust any future guidelines were to be if fracking was to go ahead the skills capacity does not exist to assess applications or monitor developments well it's a perfectly valid question and one to which we've given considerable thought and therefore that is why as i've indicated earlier that dr mcleod has issued a direction today to sipa the environment protection agency in scotland to issue a direction to sipa that no car license will be issued in respect of any unconventional gas application pending the moratorium and that action has been taken with ministers myself mr neil and dr mcleod working together but of course the answer is again if we had full powers in scotland over all of these matters if we power over the licensing the ability to grant the right to carry out mineral extraction in the first place then we would be far better able to control these matters in scotland instead of these matters being in the hands of a conservative liberal government in london rob gibson followed by allison johnson thank you poseidon officer can the minister deal with the question of international evidence gathering that needs to be carried out on public health and on methane emissions in a way which separates the worrying facts surrounding unconventional oil and gas extraction from the fictions which are out there about fossil fuel use being acceptable in this day and age minister well of course this is a matter which is i've already stated presiding officer will be the subject of consideration in our evidence-based approach and the the member knows that of course we are in the transition to a low-carbon economy and we have made great strikes strides forward both in generating green electricity and also in reducing emissions however there is more work to do and therefore in the course of the evidence gathering that i've described we will consider these matters with extreme care allison johnson followed by clear baker thank you the scottish green party is pleased that the scottish government has finally agreed with our long-standing call for clear opposition to unconventional gas extraction and the huge public support we've had for our principal stance has undoubtedly played an important part in today's announcement but of course a moratorium is only i really need a question only a delay or a suspension is the minister aware that if he keeps the storage are public opposition will continue to grow and greens will continue to engage with those communities across scotland who want an outright ban now minister well i i do hope as any officer as i said at the very outset that we can see a broad consensus emerge that the proposals that i have announced today on behalf of the scottish government are a sound sensible cautious approach where we have a national debate which is characterized by examining the evidence and looking at it with extreme care and precisely because we do not have as the member knows all of the relevant evidence relating to scotland in a whole variety of ways i believe that that debate should be better informed by the process that i've set out today meantime the mauritonium torium will apply until the process of evidence gathering and consultation has been concluded i think that's the right approach and not to prejudge the outcome of that is also the correct approach but of course everyone in this chamber is perfectly entitled to continue to campaign and make their views known and i'm perfectly sure that that's exactly what they will do claire baker for biola smith the minister is well aware of my concerns around the ucg proposals for fife it will the minister's announcement today on a moratorium applied to the ucg proposals for the first of force minister the powers that we possess apply to onshore planning activities as the member will know they do not apply to offshore activities such as that which i believe would be covered by ucg and therefore we would urge the potential developers in the meantime to engage closely with the local communities on these matters and also to acknowledge that the highest possible standards in respect of environmental regulation must be pursued of course where we to be in possession of powers in relation to offshore licensing as well then as claire baker may wish me to do we could have been in a position to make further progress but sadly as yet we are not finally elizabeth uh thank you in the interest of a complete clarity about the scottish government's position is the minister saying that any landowner in scotland would be in a position to in prevent fracking under his property minister the applications are considered in accordance with the planning process today i have announced a moratorium applies in scotland and applications will therefore not be granted pending the outcome of the outcome of the process that i've described and we took the view and i think it's widely shared in scotland that when on the 28th of july matt hancock announced that rights to object to activities underneath people's houses would be withdrawn without any consultation of the scottish government far less the scottish people we thought that was entirely wrong and i think most people in scotland presiding officer agree with us my apologies to richard simpson i'm afraid i need to move on the next site in business is the debate on motion number one two one six zero in the name of casey doug dale