Chamber and committees

The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for ensuring that local authorities comply with the legislation and requirements, and this includes the assessment of risks from asbestos.

The Health and Safety Executive undertakes school inspections to assess the management of risks from asbestos within schools.

The OEUK report argues that hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be crucial in reducing UK emissions while also creating domestic industrial and economic growth. We welcome the announcement in the UK Government’s ‘Powering Up Britain’ plan that Acorn CCS and the Scottish cluster meets the eligibility criteria for Track 2. We are, however, extremely disappointed that there is still no concrete timescale for the awarding of Track 2, which is adding additional delays onto an already delayed process, which is why we urge the UK Government to listen to OEUK’s call for the Track-2 process to be accelerated so that CCS can be deployed in Scotland.

We welcome the announcement of the shortlist for the first electrolytic allocation round for the Hydrogen Production Business Model and Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF), including five Scottish projects, as well as the four successful Scotland based projects from the NZHF competition. However, we continue to urge the UK Government, alongside calls from industry and the UK Government's own hydrogen champion, to expediate decisions on hydrogen blending, which we view as essential to enable the hydrogen economy in the near term.

INTOG is helping to progress all five themes in the oil and gas sector’s North Sea Transition Deal offering a path for the electrification of platforms and the delivery of the sector targets, providing a route for development of green power for carbon capture and storage; and hydrogen production and importantly, supporting the growth of the supply chain?

Five innovative wind projects with a potential generation capacity of 449MW were successful, providing opportunities for new growth sectors of hydrogen production, novel commercial solutions and stimulation of the supply chain.

The INTOG process is time sensitive, as developers have made clear that operation of offshore wind farms before 2030 is the key milestone to make the projects viable, and maximise opportunities to supply electricity direct to brownfield oil and gas North Sea assets with a limited lifespan. Confirmation of grid connection agreements are key to unlocking offshore wind energy development projects and we will continue to work with the NationalGrid ESO HND team to understand the practicalities of this ambition.

Reducing our energy consumption while ramping up our energy generation capabilities through renewables and hydrogen will mean that, in a net zero Scotland, we will not only be less reliant on importing oil and gas, but a net exporter of cleaner and greener energy to the rest of the UK and beyond.

The Scottish Government recognises the negative impact the pandemic has had on some people’s mental health and wellbeing, including teachers and school staff. This has been evidenced through several UK and Scottish studies.

Since 2020, the Scottish Government has therefore made a package of support available for the education workforce which is designed to help staff look after their own wellbeing, those of colleagues and those they lead. This includes coaching and group sessions focussed on looking after individual mental health and wellbeing and that of any staff managed and also values based-leadership aimed at supporting teachers in the early phase of their career. An evaluation in 2022 found that 93% of participants report an increase in their confidence to manage their own mental health and wellbeing since engaging with this support.

Local Councils employ our teachers and school staff; as such they have a responsibility to ensure workplaces support and promote good mental health benefits for the individuals they employ.

The Scottish Government will consider the final revised EU environmental crime directive, once it is agreed, against our policy as stated in the Policy Statement issued under section 6 of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 to maintain alignment where appropriate with EU law, taking account of our existing actions to strengthen the legal protection of nature.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16260 on 17 April 2023. 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/written-questions-and-answers

All projects are subject to ongoing review and consideration. It is for NHS Grampian’s project team, in discussion with the contractor, to determine whether any client changes are actioned.

As part of the tender process contractors have set aside 10% of the contracted tender cost as contingency. We will confirm the tender value in due course.

The cost crisis created an unprecedented challenge with the Scottish Government exploring all financial options to support the emergency response to help people and businesses through its Emergency Budget Review (EBR) in 2022.

The then DFM and Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, John Swinney MSP, publicly confirmed to Parliament in his EBR statement that the deferred budget of £33 million would be returned to the sector in future years, ensuring this money is ultimately used to deliver on Scotland's rural priorities.

Future budgets are set through the annual parliamentary Budget Bill process and the appropriate profile for returning this funding will be considered as part of the 2024-25 process.

Freight works on a commercial basis so the decision to move products by rail is a decision for the customer and its logistics provider.

However, I can confirm that a dedicated express rail logistics service is currently running into Scotland. This service which runs between Birmingham and Mossend, started with a trial period on 17 October 2022 followed by a full operational service running five nights a week from 9 January 2023, is operated by Varamis Rail.

The Bank’s three missions are - achieving a Just Transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045; extending equality of opportunity through improving places by 2040; and harnessing innovation to enable our people to flourish by 2040. These missions, which reflect the ‘grand challenges’ facing Scotland over the coming decades, were set by Scottish Ministers in December 2020 to give the Bank long term strategic direction for its investment activity. Given the long term nature of these challenges and that the Bank is only just entering its third full year of operation, Ministers have no plans to review the three missions at this point.

The Bank’s recently published Impact Report provides an assessment of the Bank’s performance, including against its three missions, in 2022. This report was published on the Bank’s website on April 3 2023 ( Impact Report | Scottish National Investment Bank (thebank.scot) .