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 heavy-duty vehicles, when full electrification is challenging. We support the rollout of infrastructure needed for hydrogen vehicles to operate in Scotland: Aberdeen City has two hydrogen refuelling stations.

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.

The Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce has been established to build on efforts to make Scotland the best place for nurses and midwives to come and work by developing plans for the retention of the existing nursing workforce, as well as looking at recruitment. The Taskforce is making good progress with the development of its recommended actions and will continue to work until members have agreed a comprehensive action plan. We anticipate the publication of a report later in 2024.

The recommendations of the Transmission Network Short Life Working Group will soon be published on the Scottish Government website, alongside detail of the programme of work associated with the actions previously accepted by Scottish Ministers.

The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board will submit their first draft work programme to Scottish Ministers for approval by 28 May 2024, outlining the advice they intend to issue over three years. This collaborative advice will inform the future of smart ticketing in Scotland including how to improve its consistency, accessibility and interoperability.

As of Tuesday 30 April 2024, there had been a total of 137,014,833 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

The Young Islanders Network’s extensive membership covers all six island local authorities: Shetland Islands Council, Orkney Islands Council, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, Highland Council, Argyll and Bute Council, and North Ayrshire Council.

The latest update to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report shows that full fibre coverage across Scotland now currently stands at 58%, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points – around 138,000 premises – over the previous three months. This means that over 1.57 million homes and businesses in Scotland can now access a full fibre broadband service.

While most of this full fibre deployment has been delivered commercially, the over-£600 million that the Scottish Government is investing in the Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that homes and businesses in some of Scotland’s harder-to-reach communities are also benefitting from future-proofed full fibre digital connectivity.

Where it is not possible for an operator to reach agreement with landlords, they can seek to have one imposed by the courts. The UK Government has recently reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make this process easier and we are working with operators to understand any issues, so that we can press the UK Government if further reform is needed.

While the Scottish Government is funding build through the R100 contracts, it is doing so through a gap funding model, whereby it is subsidising our delivery partner, Openreach, to extend its own commercial network across Scotland. As you will know, all regulation and legislative competence in the area of telecommunications is wholly reserved to UK Ministers and the UK Parliament under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. As such, the Scottish Government has no mechanism for intervening on any commercial decisions a telecoms operator chooses to make, such as how much they charge for installation, services etc. Responsibility for commercial matters of this nature ultimately rests solely with Ofcom in its capacity as the UK’s telecoms regulator.

Instances where miscarriage or forced termination has taken place because of domestic violence reflects the most tragic of circumstances based on the cruel realities of domestic abuse.

Just two weeks ago, this Parliament debated a Petition on the creation of an unborn victims of violence offence, where we heard about the harrowing realities of domestic abuse that were suffered by the Petitioner, Nicola Murray.

Following the debate, my officials have been in contact with the Sentencing Council to ascertain the next steps in their development of guidelines on domestic abuse. As this Parliament recognised, the outcome of this work is fundamental in determining next steps. I look forward to how this progresses as we look to root out and tackle the toxic masculinity and gender inequality that leads to violence, harassment, misogyny and abuse against women.

Firstly, I would reiterate that violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights and is totally unacceptable.

It is also important to highlight that the Lanarkshire division within Police Scotland play an important local role in preventing domestic abuse and safeguarding women and girls. This is reflected within the Local Policing Plan which has a particular focus on Gender Based Abuse.

I would also advise that the Lanarkshire Division are currently collaborating on a pilot project with partners from Women’s Aid and Lanarkshire Rape Crisis to establish a crisis centre supporting women and children fleeing domestic abuse. I would hope we might be able to say more about that at an appropriate point.

Finally, I would add that over £1.4m of the Scottish Government’s Delivering Equally Safe Fund has been allocated in grant funding this financial year in Lanarkshire. This includes funding to a range of organisations such as Motherwell & District Women’s Aid and Liber8 who support women affected by gender-based violence.