Chamber and committees

Since 2020-21, 50 grants worth a total of £44.57m have been allocated to projects to support and develop green hydrogen production, as detailed in the following table.

Hydrogen is not considered the primary approach to decarbonising domestic heat; however, it does still have a role to play where electrification is not the optimal solution.

Our Heat in Buildings Strategy set out the potential for hydrogen to replace natural gas in some parts of the gas grid. Any such role continues to depend on strategic decisions by the UK Government in the coming years.

Hydrogen use for domestic heating is new and needs to be demonstrated before the UK Government makes its decision. The Scottish Government has provided £6.9m grant funding to SGN’s H100 Fife hydrogen for home heating demonstration project, which will contribute to the evidence base on the role hydrogen can play in decarbonising heat using the gas network. This project is expected to come online in Autumn 2025 and will fit up to 300 hydrogen boilers supplied with 100% green hydrogen produced from offshore wind renewable electricity.

This is a matter for Orkney Islands Council.

However, through the work of the Orkney Ferry Replacement Task Force, the Scottish Government has been supporting the Orkney Islands Council in the preparation of its business case for fleet replacement.

The Scottish Government recognise that lowering the production cost of green hydrogen is a key factor in the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland. We are supportive of innovation and technological advances that could support this aim.

The Scottish Government is committed to helping the Scottish hydrogen sector develop and grow to realise an ambition of generating 5GW of green and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 and 25GW by 2045. Working with our Enterprise Agencies, we are actively engaging with developers to support and encourage hydrogen production projects across Scotland. Given the nascent nature of the sector, and the pace of the developing global hydrogen economy, future production capacity levels are subject to many factors and are challenging to forecast.

In regards to part A of the question, there is no definitive list of closed care homes. The Care Inspectorate publish information relating to ‘Service Cancellations and Registrations’ in their quarterly statistical reports. The most recent version was published on 9 May 2025, which can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/publications-statistics/182-statistics-and-data/statistics/quarterly-statistical-reports

This includes “care home services for older people, children & young people, mental health, alcohol & drugs misuse, learning disabilities and respite services.” The number of services that have been cancelled are available in the cancelled services column in the publication table.

It is important to note that in some cases the services listed as cancelled may have been re-registered under a different business name and care service number.

This data does not provide a breakdown to local authority or regional level, this is not available.

As regards part B of the question, no data is available on the number of residents affected by cancelled services. For more information we would suggest contacting Health and Social Care Partnerships to request this data for each area.

Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government. I welcome the findings of Baroness Casey’s Audit. We are working at pace with partners including Police Scotland to assess its findings and recommendations to understand how they might apply in Scotland.

Police Scotland has advised that there are no current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children which would mirror the investigations described in Baroness Casey’s audit as being perpetrated by “grooming gangs”. However, there is absolutely no place for complacency. That is why Police Scotland are carrying out their deep dive into previous investigations of the type referred to in the Baroness Casey audit. This is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks.

It should also be noted, that as a single force, with one vulnerability database feeding local and national child protection procedures, and a National Intelligence database, Police Scotland is well placed to address the information and intelligence sharing challenges highlighted in Baroness Casey’s Audit. Police Scotland will work closely with the UK National Police Chiefs’ Council leads in Child Protection to ensure mutual sharing of best practice and learning on this issue.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry currently taking place is one of the widest ranging ever undertaken in Scotland, and includes an extensive review of child protection policy and practice in Scotland. Baroness Casey’s report specifically highlights the vulnerability of children in care to sexual exploitation and is likely to be a further source of evidence for the Scottish Inquiry to draw on.

Baroness Casey’s audit will also be considered by the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, members of which include Police Scotland and Professor Alexis Jay, as it considers opportunities to improve our response to child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with UK Government counterparts to identify opportunities for improved collaboration. We are committed to working in partnership with UK Ministers to tackle child abuse and exploitation.

Violence towards pupils or staff is unacceptable.

The new consequences guidance, which has been co-created with headteachers and educational experts, is clear that the safety of pupils and staff must always be a priority for attention.

The guidance provides illustrative, non-prescriptive examples to support de-escalation, risk assessment and safety planning. It sets out processes for reporting, monitoring and escalation in situations of violence.

We have also published more detailed guidance on risk-assessments to support school staff responding to violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour.

Funding and resources available will be published as part of the series of Action Plans.

We are considering using an evidence based process to determine which improvement work will be prioritised and details of this will form part of the Long Term Conditions Framework which we will publish in December 2025.

The number of full-time equivalent civil servants is broken down by policy area and condition as follows: