Shona Robison MSP

08 June 2023

Dear Ms Robison,

Congratulations on your recent appointment as Deputy First Minister. The Commission looks forward to working together with you as the Scottish Government progresses its critical agenda on the delivery of a just transition to a low carbon economy.

I am writing to you in the context of the public consultation on the National Outcomes review 2023. We welcome the review, which we hope will help to ensure the National Performance Framework enables strong impact against key delivery priorities in the years ahead.

The remit of the Just Transition Commission requires that we advise on the most suitable approaches to monitoring and evaluation of the delivery of a just transition. The Commission is in regular dialogue with Scottish Government regarding the groundwork currently being laid by officials to establish an effective monitoring and evaluation framework for just transition, and we expect to shortly commission our own research regarding the existing data landscape out with Scottish Government sources.

At present the National Outcomes and National Performance Framework indicators do not reflect the Scottish Government’s core strategic objective of delivering a just transition to Net Zero. As part of their view of the National Outcomes, the Commission hopes to better understand how the Scottish Government plans to ensure critical just transition issues are incorporated into the National Outcomes and National Performance Framework for the long term.

As a first step, I propose our Secretariat arrange a meeting between your officials and the Commission’s working group on monitoring and evaluation to discuss this further.

We look forward to working with you on this matter.

Your sincerely,

Professor Jim Skea,

Chair, Just Transition Commission