As set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan, hydrogen in the transport sector could act as a complementary energy source alongside electrification, providing an option to parts of the transport sector such as parts of the rail network, when full electrification is challenging.

Transport Scotland has encouraged the use of hydrogen-powered trains in Scotland by continuing to engage with train fleet owners on the subject, with sector working groups developing the understanding of the safe and economically viable means to deploy hydrogen trains, and with other parts of Scottish Government and agencies including Scottish Enterprise, in developing understanding of potential demand and possible transition scenarios.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to work with the design advisory group to establish the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). The design advisory group is providing expert support ahead of a procurement process that will select a host for AROS.

This is an important step forward in our journey to a fairer Scotland for all, and will build upon the Anti-Racism Interim Governance Group’s participatory research work with over 500 individuals from racially minoritised communities across Scotland.

We are committed to completing an equality impact assessment before AROS is established. We will engage with stakeholders to examine the evidence available and understand the impacts that may be felt by communities.

The establishment of the Anti-Racism Observatory is one part of our wider strategic approach to tackling racism. We continue to work with all our partners and stakeholders to achieve our ambition of eradicating racism in Scotland.

Legislation and regulations relating to electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government, with National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) responsible for electricity system planning and electricity network planning across GB. As set out in the UK Transmission Acceleration Action Plan, the UK Government has committed to develop a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, which will bridge the gap between government policy and infrastructure development plans across the whole energy system, land and sea, across Great Britain. The Scottish Government is broadly supportive of a more strategic approach to energy planning however, we are continuing to press the UK Government to ensure that the SSEP respects the devolved competencies of the Scottish Parliament.

The specification for the Single Building Assessment (SBA) is under development with an expected publication date of May 2024, initiated to give further clarity on the SBA process. When complete, the document will set out any divergence from the PAS 9980 for it to work within the context of the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022.

The Scottish Government expects fair work principles to be adhered to in the college sector. To support fair work in the college sector, the Scottish Government recently introduced legislation to add trade union nominees to college boards, which will improve trade union recognition and confidence in college governance.

While operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are the responsibility of individual colleges, the Scottish Government has been clear that compulsory redundancies should only be considered as a last resort, after all other options have been fully explored in collaboration with trade unions.

The Scottish Government remains concerned by the impact of potential action on students and expects that institutions take action to mitigate those impacts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25489 on 9 March 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers

The SPCB has a dedicated intranet page to Capital Credit Union and Financial Wellbeing.  Monthly promotions run by the Capital Credit Union are published by the Pay and Pensions Office via the Corporate Bulletin.  A link to the Capital Credit Union website is also provided to all staff on the SPCB’s online payslip platform. 

The SPCB has a contractual arrangement with Capital Credit Union Ltd which commenced in 2012.  The contract is open ended with no proposed end date.  

Table 1 presents the estimated gross savings to ratepayers, after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied, for properties with a rateable value of up to and including £51,000, resulting from the Scottish Government freezing the Basic Property Rate at 49.8p in 2024-2025, compared to uprating in line with September 2023’s measure of CPI, which would have resulted in a Basic Property Rate of 53.1p. The figures are not adjusted for any other relief. This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 30 March 2023, 1 April 2023, and 1 January 2024.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross savings to ratepayers due to freezing the Basic Property Rate, 2024-2025

As set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan, hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels could play a significant role in the decarbonisation of the maritime industry.

Our long-term goal is to reduce carbon emissions very substantially by 2045 and, ideally, to eliminate them. However, this is dependent on alternative fuels becoming commercially available. This is a challenge facing the whole shipping industry.

Hydrogen may well become one of the future maritime fuels used by the global shipping fleet. However, this technology is not yet fully developed, and the decision of vessel owners to use specific maritime fuels will be determined by a number of factors. One of those factors will be availability of the fuel source, therefore we believe that working to develop a safe and economically viable supply will assist in the development of hydrogen vessels. This will ultimately be a decision for ship owners and port operators, along with the UK Government, which has policy responsibility for shipping regulations in UK waters.