Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-03290

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in Aberdeen have been lifted out of poverty since the inception of the Scottish Child Payment.

Question reference: S6W-26155

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of any work that it is undertaking to understand and address gambling harms in Scotland, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding (a) its proposed statutory levy on gambling operators and (b) the rates that gambling operators should pay in the event that the levy is introduced.

The Scottish Government have been actively engaging with the UK Government and the Welsh Government on the Levy, including on how funds could be allocated and will continue to do so now that the formal consultation process has concluded, and we await publication of the consultation response.

The Scottish Government has asked that the level of the levy is kept under regular review and that Devolved Governments and Administrations are a statutory part of this review process.

Question reference: S6W-26158

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of any work that it is undertaking to understand and address gambling harms in Scotland, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding its proposals to introduce stake limits for online slot games.

The Scottish Government has welcomed regular engagement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport officials in UK Government to discuss a range of gambling policy matters, including its proposals to introduce stake limits for online slot games. The Scottish Government has also met and will continue to meet with a wide range of gambling stakeholders, including the Gambling Commission and public health organisations to inform our policy thinking.

Question reference: S6W-26141

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the use of hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in Scotland.

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.

Transport Scotland has contracted Heriot-Watt University to work with road haulage fleets and stakeholders to assess where initial enroute charging and refuelling infrastructure for zero emission HGVs will be needed.

The Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, convened by Transport Scotland, includes a working group focused on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure; this included hydrogen truck manufacturers and fleets interested in hydrogen trucks.

Question reference: S6W-26143

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the use of hydrogen-powered trains in Scotland.

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 parts of the rail network, when full electrification is challenging.

Transport Scotland has encouraged the use of hydrogen-powered trains in Scotland by continuing to engage with train fleet owners on the subject, with sector working groups developing the understanding of the safe and economically viable means to deploy hydrogen trains, and with other parts of Scottish Government and agencies including Scottish Enterprise, in developing understanding of potential demand and possible transition scenarios.

Question reference: S6W-26139

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many hydrogen vehicle refuelling sites there currently are in Scotland.

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.

Question reference: S6W-26142

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the use of hydrogen-powered boats and ships in Scotland.

As set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan, hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels could play a significant role in the decarbonisation of the maritime industry.

Our long-term goal is to reduce carbon emissions very substantially by 2045 and, ideally, to eliminate them. However, this is dependent on alternative fuels becoming commercially available. This is a challenge facing the whole shipping industry.

Hydrogen may well become one of the future maritime fuels used by the global shipping fleet. However, this technology is not yet fully developed, and the decision of vessel owners to use specific maritime fuels will be determined by a number of factors. One of those factors will be availability of the fuel source, therefore we believe that working to develop a safe and economically viable supply will assist in the development of hydrogen vessels. This will ultimately be a decision for ship owners and port operators, along with the UK Government, which has policy responsibility for shipping regulations in UK waters.

Question reference: S6W-26140

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of hydrogen refuelling sites in Scotland.

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.

Transport Scotland has contracted Heriot-Watt University to work with road haulage fleets and stakeholders to assess where initial enroute charging and refuelling infrastructure for zero emission HGVs will be needed.

The Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, convened by Transport Scotland, includes a working group focused on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. The Taskforce included hydrogen truck manufacturers and fleets interested in hydrogen trucks.

Question reference: S6W-26157

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of any work that it is undertaking to understand and address gambling harms in Scotland, whether it has had any discussions with the UK Government regarding the potential disbursement of any funds raised through its proposed statutory levy on gambling operators, in the event that the levy is introduced.

The statutory levy will be applied across Great Britain and will be used to support potential spending on projects and services across all three nations to reduce gambling related harms.

We continue to work with the UK Government and the Welsh Government over the levy proposals to ensure that Scotland receives a fair allocation of this funding. It is Scottish Government’s view that this should be, at least, reflective of a population share of the funding.

Question reference: S6F-02965

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what analysis of passenger behaviour and numbers has been carried out since the inception of the removal of peak rail fares pilot.

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