Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is funding the Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, to accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and enterprises to stimulate innovation in the hydrogen sector.

Our Offshore Wind International Engagement Strategy is aligned with, and informed by, a number of Scottish Government strategies, including Scotland’s International Strategy (published in January 2024) and Scotland’s Vision for Trade. These strategies are in turn aligned with our international development policy.

As stated in the answer to S6W-26808, given the dynamic nature of the offshore wind market, our approach and the identified priority countries will be reviewed regularly to reflect the latest market intelligence.

The criminal investigation by Police Scotland, supported by other agencies, into this attack is still going on. As such there is a limited amount that I can share at this moment in time. As the investigation progresses the Scottish Government and partners will undertake a lessons identified exercise and share its findings with public bodies so they are able to take preventative steps to defend against similar attacks.

This data is not held centrally by the Scottish Government but VisitScotland’s data shows that footfall to iCentres has decreased significantly over several years. The decrease from 2019 to 2023 ranges from 16% to 57% across 25 locations.

Sextortion is sexual extortion and involves the threat of having sexual information, photos or videos shared with others. It is carried out to extort money or force a victim to do something against their will, control behaviour or obtain further images.

Where a reported sextortion-related crime involves the perpetrator making demands for money or other valuables, Police Scotland will record and investigate it under Threats and extortion. Table 1 shows the estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online, from 2019-20 to 2022-23. This is based on an annual review of crime records (commenced in 2019-20) which aims to estimate how many cyber-crimes are recorded in Scotland. It should be noted the figures below are based on a sample of police records (rather than all police records), so should be seen as providing a broad estimate of the volume of this type of crime, rather than an exact count.

Whilst not all online threats and extortion will necessarily have a ‘sextortion’ based element, it is very likely a high proportion (and certainly the majority) of the cases shown in Table 1 do. Figures for 2023-24 will be published in June 2024.

Where a reported sextortion-related crime involves a motive other than financial gain (for example a demand of a physical sexual nature or some other attempt to exert control over the victim), Police Scotland will record and investigate it under Threatening to disclose an intimate image. Table 2 below shows the number of these crimes recorded since the associated Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act was implemented on 3 July 2017. Again, figures for 2023-24 will be published in June 2024.

Table 1 - Estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online: 2019-20 to 2022-23

The criminal law in relation to drugs offending is reserved. Sentencing decisions, including the use of custodial and community-based options, in any case are for the independent court who consider the facts and circumstances of each case before reaching their sentencing decision.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) announced a ‘.. review of how best to significantly increase the number of social enterprises, employee-owned businesses and co-operatives in Scotland, supporting regional regeneration and the wealth of local communities’.

The independent review is nearing completion and is anticipated to complete, with findings and recommendations published, prior to summer recess 2024.

We recognise the importance of having access to appropriate diagnostic tests for lung conditions and welcome the development of this service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. As this is a new programme, we will work closely with all key stakeholders to determine if there are scale up options for the rest of Scotland.

Improving access to diagnostics is a key commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan and we will seek evidence from this programme and ensure it is shared with all appropriate stakeholders.

Under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, VisitScotland is required to consider island communities when carrying out its functions.

VisitScotland published an Islands Impact Screening Assessment in March 2024 which is available at https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/our-policies/island-communities-impact-assessments .

Gillian Martin MSP, Minister for Climate Action, is leading on the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill for the portfolio. As Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I remain the member with oversight.