Centre for Public Policy

Summary by Dr Dan Barlow, Scottish Parliament and Dr Sarah Weakley, University of Glasgow  

In preparation for the Scottish Government Climate Change Plan and its scrutiny in 2025, researchers representing all four Colleges of the University of Glasgow came together with clerking and research staff from the Scottish Parliament on 6 November 2024.  

The day aimed to highlight the research of some of the University’s key projects and disciplinary strengths, inform researchers of the upcoming areas of work across six Parliamentary committees and highlight opportunities for them to engage.  

Strengthening parliamentary scrutiny of climate change and the forthcoming Climate Change Plan 

Recognising that most policy areas contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and/or are likely to be impacted by climate change, the Scottish Parliament Conveners Group agreed a programme of work to strengthen cross-cutting parliamentary scrutiny of climate change at the start of Session 6 (2021-2026).

One element of this work involves a partnership, funded by UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), with Scottish universities who hold an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde and the University of Stirling).  Building on the Scottish Parliament’s current Academic Engagement programme, the work seeks to bolster capacity in the area of climate change knowledge exchange by extending and diversifying the use of evidence and research expertise. More information on this is available in a Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) blog ‘Delivering a model for parliamentary scrutiny of climate change’.

In recent months, the Scottish Parliament has benefited from academic input to support the scrutiny of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Parliament in October 2024. The Scottish Government is expected to publish a new Draft Climate Change Plan, around summer 2025. As well as detailing a set of measures to cut emissions in a range of sectors (e.g. energy, transport, agriculture), the Plan is also required to provide information on the costs and benefits of policies and implications for supporting a just transition.

The Scottish Government is required to lay a draft of the Plan before the Parliament for 120 days before to allow parliamentary scrutiny of it. Work is underway to ensure the Parliament is well placed to tap into the breadth of relevant research expertise as part of this process. The contents of the Plan will straddle the remit of multiple Committees in the Scottish Parliament, and a diverse range of research expertise will be highly relevant. To help foster this input the Parliament will be drawing on established mechanisms, and piloting new approaches, to support engagement with the research community.

Engaging with University of Glasgow research – event takeaways

1. Interdisciplinary working amongst researchers and amongst Parliamentarians and their staff is key  

Addressing the challenges of climate change requires researchers and policymakers to think about whole systems – and their place in that system – to make an impact. During the event, systems thinking was highlighted as an extremely valuable approach by both Professor Jaime Toney and Professor Petra Meier – they referenced the GALLANT research project, which considers how to better create and sustain multi-sectoral partnerships that align evidence, goals, policy and actions. This is particularly challenging in current policymaking and funding climates where the desire may be towards protecting siloed resources. Partners working in collaboration, however, have the potential to design policy that not only can mitigate, for example the negative impacts of climate change on populations, whilst also creating health co-benefits.  

The upcoming scrutiny work on the Climate Change Plan will require committees to work in partnership to understand how one proposal in the Plan is interlinked with others. This cross-committee working can only be strengthened by engaging with evidence that speaks across disciplines too. It’s incumbent upon academic researchers and support staff to consider how to foster greater interdisciplinary working within the university on these topics so they can be ready to more effectively engage with cross-committee scrutiny themes.

2. Allowing Parliament to hear from a diverse set of researchers 

A key message from staff from the Scottish Parliament is that they are interested in hearing from a larger group of more diverse researchers in their daily work. For academic staff, this can come in many forms; from engaging with researchers in SPICe who are creating research briefings for MSPs and the general public, to more formal Parliamentary mechanisms such as providing evidence to a committee.  A review of data on committee witnesses held in a parliamentary database indicates that, over the period May 2021-May 2024, roughly 6% of all oral evidence to committees was provided by researchers from higher education institutions. 

Although this figure is similar to academic engagement in other Parliaments in the UK, there was a distinct feeling during the event that there is scope for the academic community and its evidence to play a greater role in Parliamentary scrutiny. Scottish Parliament staff who attended the event stressed the value of early engagement from our academic community, and ideally from members of staff from all experience levels. It is therefore valuable for researchers and knowledge brokers in universities like Glasgow to build connections in events like this and to continue to foster them in one-to-one dialogue.

3. The best work gets done in conversation  

Researchers spent the last part of the day in conversation with the Scottish Parliament staff, speaking directly to those who are interested in using their evidence. Attendees were prompted to consider both evidence supply and demand: what the evidence landscape looks like now and how to mobilise it, and what is needed by Parliament and other policymakers to make informed decisions? Considering both these issues in conversation enabled participants to share their own views on what’s needed and consider new areas for collaboration. 

Engaging through knowledge exchange teams 

Looking forward to 2025, the Centre for Public Policy aims to deepen engagement with the climate scrutiny work in Scottish Parliament and offer diverse research expertise.  

If you are a researcher keen to engage, get in touch with your local knowledge exchange and impact teams at the University of Glasgow or your institution.  

You can also join the Scottish Parliament Academic Network. 

Authors

Dr Dan Barlow, Knowledge Exchange Manager – Climate Change, Scottish Parliament

Dr Sarah Weakley, University of Glasgow, Research and KE Lead (College of Social Sciences) and Centre for Public Policy Affiliate

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WATCH: Learn more about engaging with the Scottish Parliament from Dr Sarah Weakley

 

First published: 16 December 2024