Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted in Part
Explain National Wealth Fund decision-making, Grangemouth taskforce role, and project criteria.
Recommendation
The Government should explain in its response to this report how its taskforce on regulatory recommendations will feed into decisions taken by the National Wealth Fund. The Government should make clear the role and influence of the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce Board in relation to the allocation of the £200 million National Wealth Fund funding. It should clarify whether the speed at which a new project at Grangemouth can begin, as well as the number and quality of jobs to be created, will be taken into account when making decisions about investable proposals. (Recommendation, Paragraph 138) 59
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees, stating the National Wealth Fund (NWF) is part of the Investment Taskforce and will be aware of emerging projects and regulatory requests. The NWF's investment principles include supporting growth and clean energy missions, delivering financial returns, and attracting private capital, which indirectly covers project speed and job quality, though it doesn't specify how these are explicitly weighted.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
The government partially agrees with this recommendation. The Grangemouth Investment Taskforce established jointly by the UK and Scottish Governments is being led by our investment agencies – the Scottish Enterprise and Office for Investment – which assess all proposals for Grangemouth. As projects emerge through this Taskforce we are working as quickly as possible to understand what we can do to support investors in developing projects at Grangemouth, which includes what policy or regulatory support is needed to enable investment. As a member of the Investment Taskforce, the National Wealth Fund will be aware of projects that are emerging through the investment pipeline and any regulatory or policy requests that accompany proposals. The National Wealth Fund stands ready to invest the £200 million to support new opportunities at Grangemouth which is designed for co-investment with the private sector once investable propositions are identified. The Fund acts as an impact investor and adheres to its investment principles before making decisions on investment, which are whether the project supports the government’s growth and clean energy missions, is in capital intensive projects, delivers a positive financial return and whether it can crowd in significant private capital over time. To date, the Investment Taskforce has received around 140 enquiries and whilst we can confirm that we are working closely with several other projects with further announcements expected soon due to commercial sensitivity we cannot provide further information on the timings of investment decisions at this point in time. We are working as quickly as possible to support investment decisions, and the £14.5 million seed fund announced at Budget is designed to support these projects. Our priority is to ensure that projects are delivered efficiently and in way that secures a long term sustainable economic future for Grangemouth.