- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its paper, A Trading Nation: Realising Scotland's Hydrogen Potential - A Plan for Exports, which was published on 29 November 2024, what engagement it has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Scotland, (b) Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and (c) European Commission regarding its plans to export hydrogen.
Answer
To support the development of, ‘A Trading Nation: Realising Scotland's Hydrogen Potential - A Plan for Exports’, Scottish Government officials engaged extensively with stakeholders, including key policy leads within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Scottish Ministers have routinely discussed Scotland's goal of becoming a Hydrogen exporting nation with the Secretary of State for Scotland and other UK Government Cabinet Ministers. Whilst there has been no formal engagement with the European Commission regarding the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan, Scottish Ministers have emphasised this goal most recently during their visits to Norway, Sweden, Germany and Brussels in October and November 2024.
Before the plan’s publication, the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy updated the State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the positive engagement by respective officials and suggested a meeting to discuss future collaboration on plans to export hydrogen.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government which provisions of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 are yet to be implemented.
Answer
Provisions to introduce a licensing scheme for certain wildlife traps and provisions relating to glue traps have not yet been implemented. We will be commencing these provisions over the coming months, with stakeholders given sufficient time to make any necessary changes.
Provisions relating to the licensing of muirburn and the Muirburn Code are expected to be brought in ahead of the next muirburn season in autumn 2025.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to provide training and upskilling for workers to restore peatland in rural areas.
Answer
Through the Peatland ACTION partnership, the NatureScot-led Peatland Skills Action Plan focuses on increasing workforce capacity for design of restoration schemes and growth in the contracting sector to ensure delivery towards our future restoration targets. The current focus is being directed towards supporting ongoing skills development and ensuring the most effective use of the workforce available.
Training has been provided on peatland restoration across private, public and third sectors since 2020. As a result of these ongoing efforts, previous concerns about contractor capacity as a barrier to delivery of restoration is much reduced.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding will be required by 2030 to meet the goals set out in its paper, A Trading Nation: Realising Scotland's Hydrogen Potential - A Plan for Exports, which was published on 29 November 2024.
Answer
Achieving our Hydrogen Action Plan target of 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, and wider plan aims, requires significant investment.
Since June 2022, the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme has offered grants totalling almost £7m to 31 projects to support innovation under the themes of renewable hydrogen production, storage and distribution, and integration of hydrogen into our energy system.
Whilst budget constraints meant it was not possible to open a Green Hydrogen Fund as planned, we worked with Scottish Enterprise to develop arrangements for a targeted in-year funding call for financial year 2024-25. The call will help to de-risk and leverage in private investment to help progress the early technical development stages of projects across Scotland.
Launched on 16 September, the call aims to provide support to strategically important renewable green hydrogen production projects and projects which will help to develop the supply chain, transport and storage infrastructure, as well as gather market intelligence on wider Scottish hydrogen ecosystem activity and future funding demand. Grant offers are expected to be made in December 2024.
The Scottish Government is determined to play an active part in attracting and catalysing the investment, likely to total hundreds of millions over the next decade, that will be required to fully unlock the potential of Scotland’s hydrogen economy.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to restore peatland.
Answer
Through the Peatland ACTION partnership we are funding the restoration of our peatlands. We are also working hard with our Peatland ACTION delivery partners to tackle the many barriers to upscaling peatland restoration in this relatively young sector.
We are making good progress towards our ambitious restoration targets with a total of around 75,000 hectares restored since 1990 and strong annual increases in rates. Since 2020, we have invested £67.8 million on peatland restoration in Scotland, and this year we committed £26.9 million.
The average rate of peatland restoration has more than doubled in the last two years and 2023-24 saw 10,360 hectares restored– the highest amount in a single year. We have committed to restoring over 10,000 ha in 2024-25 in the 2024 Programme for Government.
Through the Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026 we will invest £35.5 million to fund the restoration of around 14,000 hectares of degraded peatland in Scotland.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the Tree Planting Task Force announced on 28 November 2024, and whether the task force will also consider the need to enhance biodiversity and plant native trees, rather than funding further expansion of Sitka Spruce plantations.
Answer
The first meeting of the Tree Planting Taskforce took place on 28 November with Ministers representing the Scottish, UK, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments in attendance. The Scottish Government outlined the importance of forestry in Scotland, and our recent successes in delivering the majority of woodland creation across the UK.
The Taskforce was an opportunity to highlight the importance of all types of trees, both native and productive, as part of increasing biodiversity and driving woodland creation.
There was broad agreement within the group about the value of further cross-border collaboration and the collective challenges we face, such as future woodland management, addressing the skills shortage in the sector and tackling the threat of pests and diseases. The next steps and detailed future work of the Taskforce is still to be decided and agreed by its members.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ruth Charteris on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the details of all expenditure that has been paid to contest concluded civil cases relating to prosecutions arising from the administration of Rangers FC.
Answer
The following table provides the details of all expenditure that has been paid to contest concluded civil cases relating to prosecutions arising from the administration of Rangers FC. Figures correct as of 27 October 2024.
Category | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
Staffing | 81,864.40 | 220,466.14 | 356,360.78 | 275,002.43 | 436,555.03 | 370,761.36 | 728,689.14 | 700,742.61 | 3,170,441.89 |
Legal Costs | 188,637.56 | 129,242.84 | 578,972.31 | 558,727.37 | 1,141,535.00 | 903,000.57 | 470,223.14 | 12,544.80 | 3,982,883.59 |
Legal advice for staff | | 36,473.13 | 95,807.29 | 166,860.29 | 255,855.12 | 148,440.26 | 63,875.10 | 16,349.60 | 783,660.79 |
Fees to Noters | | | | | | | | | - |
Judicial Docs | | | | | | | | | - |
Interpreters/Video/Satellite | | | 695.94 | | | | | | 695.94 |
Professional Services | | | | | | 1,491,639.55 | | | 1,491,639.55 |
Witness costs | | | | | | | | 0.00 | - |
Office costs | 211.11 | | 62.77 | | | | 56.09 | | 329.97 |
Total costs excl compensation | 188,848.67 | 165,715.97 | 675,538.31 | 725,587.66 | 1,397,390.12 | 2,543,080.38 | 534,154.33 | 28,894.40 | 9,429,651.73 |
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ruth Charteris on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) has been and (b) is due to be paid to litigants from all concluded civil cases relating to prosecutions arising from the administration of Rangers FC, broken down by financial year.
Answer
The following table provides the details of how much has been paid to litigants from all concluded civil cases relating to prosecutions arising from the administration of Rangers FC, broken down by financial year.
Please note that the total sum to date which has been paid out in respect of all settlements and legal expenses for the Pursuers is £52.2m.
The action concerning Imran Ahmad v the Lord Advocate, settlement of £528,615 was paid out in 2024-25 however the matter of expenses to be awarded to Mr Ahmad is still pending. Accordingly, as this action is not deemed to be concluded, this payment has not been included in the table below. The final sum due to be paid is to Mr Ahmad in respect of expenses incurred as a result of the civil action. This matter is still currently being considered by Lord Harrower.
The final outstanding matter concerns expenses due to the Lord Advocate for the cost of defending the action raised by Mr Grier against the Lord Advocate. This matter is due to go to taxation to be considered by the Auditor in January 2025.
Compensation costs when paid out: | 2016-17 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
Civil Cases | 67,043.67 | 310,000.00 | 24,045,250.00 | 11,037,825.05 | 16,231,398.28 | 13,643.39 | | 51,705,160.39 |
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure sufficient continuous evaluation of eligibility for ongoing recipients of disability benefits.
Answer
Social Security Scotland make awards on an on-going basis. This means that awards do not have a set end date after which the client must re-apply. Instead, we conduct light-touch reviews to ensure that the existing award continues to be right for the individual.
In most cases, a review date is set as part of a determination decision to ensure continuous evaluation of a client’s eligibility. Review dates are often set based on when a person’s circumstances are likely to change in the future.
Clients have a duty to notify Social Security Scotland when there is a change in circumstances, including a change in medical condition, which could impact their entitlement. This leads to a review of their existing award and a new decision on their entitlement. In house Health and Social Care practitioners are available to provide advice during the case review process.
For some people, even long review periods are inappropriate, and indefinite awards have been introduced for people who receive Adult Disability Payment or Pension Age Disability Payment whose needs are highly unlikely to change.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported review of more than 1,000 CT scans, in light of concerns regarding the quality of assessments made by a consultant radiologist.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2024
