Questions and answers

Question reference: S6F-03115

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-27162

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the establishment of hydrogen transportation infrastructure to support the export of hydrogen to the rest of the UK and Europe, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

Establishing hydrogen transport infrastructure is critical to achieving the ambitions set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan. The Scottish Government is working with key European partners to assess options and opportunities for the development of transport infrastructure to enable the export of hydrogen from Scotland.

Scottish Government is engaging with National Grid on the Project Union initiative exploring the phased repurposing of the UK’s natural gas National Transmission System (NTS) to create a UK hydrogen backbone carrying 100% hydrogen. Decisions on the future of the Gas Grid are a reserved matter and are expected to be made in 2026 by the UK Government. We continue to routinely engage with UK Government on a range of hydrogen policy matters including Transport and Storage Hydrogen Business Models.

We are also working with industry and the development agencies on the development of a Hydrogen Sector Export Plan (HSEP) that will set out the steps needed to realise Scotland's export potential – including in relation to the development of critical infrastructure to support the transport of hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives. This is expected to be published this year.

Question reference: S6W-27164

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in creating a visible pipeline of hydrogen projects, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government and our Enterprise Agencies support hydrogen developers and businesses across Scotland to grow a pipeline of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production projects in Scotland and secure the accompanying supply chain opportunities. Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than the 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity we hope to have operational by 2030.

We are engaging closely with the Cromarty Hydrogen Project (Storegga) 10.6MW and Scottish Power Whitelees Project 7.1MW both of whom are targeting industrial heat as an offtake for their hydrogen and were successful in their applications for hydrogen business model support from UKG in the first round allocation (HAR1). We provided letters of support for a further 10 projects in Scotland that applied for the UKG’S HAR 2 round.

Question reference: S6W-27244

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17939 by Kevin Stewart on 25 May 2023, whether it will provide an update on how many young people have now received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority area, based on the latest information available.

As of 1 May 2024, there were 732,654 cardholders under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. The following table shows the number of cardholders broken down to local authority level.

Aberdeen City	30,715
Aberdeenshire	36,247
Angus Council	14,305
Argyll & Bute	9,022
City of Edinburgh	85,314
Clackmannanshire	5,130
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	2,963
Dumfries and Galloway	13,637
Dundee City	23,109
East Ayrshire	17,381
East Dunbartonshire	13,712
East Lothian	16,357
East Renfrewshire	14,633
Falkirk	18,543
Fife	57,821
Glasgow City	82,026
Highland	22,727
Inverclyde	11,696
Midlothian	13,686
Moray	10,757
North Ayrshire	19,937
North Lanarkshire	48,400
Orkney Islands	2,189
Perth & Kinross	18,514
Renfrewshire	23,856
Scottish Borders	12,385
Shetland Islands	3,197
South Ayrshire	11,947
South Lanarkshire	44,416
Stirling	11,126
West Dunbartonshire	13,690
West Lothian	23,216

Total	732,654

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

Question reference: S6W-27150

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its ambition for onshore and offshore wind development in Scotland supporting 5GW of hydrogen by 2030, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The deployment of green hydrogen production will develop alongside the growth of onshore and offshore wind and the availability of constrained renewable electricity from existing wind farms.

Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than our 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

The Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), due to be published by summer this year, will set clear ambitions for increasing Scotland’s renewable energy capacity. It will outline a route map of actions that the Scottish Government will taketo deliver these ambitions whilst supporting a just transition.

Our Offshore Wind Policy Statement (2020) set out the Scottish Government’s ambition for 8-11 GW of offshore wind in Scotland by 2030. This is currently being reviewed in light of the significant ambition demonstrated by the private sector via the ScotWind leasing round. We also consulted on setting a further ambition for 2045 through the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the ambitions as set out in the 2020 Offshore Wind Policy Statement and will invest up to £500m over the next five years to develop the infrastructure and supply chain critical to growing our offshore wind sector.

As of December 2023, Scotland’s onshore wind operational capacity is around 9.5 GW. Within the project pipeline there is additional 13.9 GW of potential onshore wind capacity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27154

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Scottish industries to use hydrogen in their decarbonisation plans, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

Alongside electrification, hydrogen will be a key part of the net zero journey, particularly in transitioning many hard-to-abate sectors such as industry. The Scottish Government is developing a place-based, industry specific Just Transition Plan for the Grangemouth industrial cluster, as we committed to doing in our 2023 Programme for Government. The Plan will outline the strategic long-term future of the industrial cluster and a range of possibilities for operations at Grangemouth in 2045, including low-carbon hydrogen manufacture, carbon capture and storage, as well as wider Just Transition outcomes for the workforce, community and surrounding environment.

Beyond this, we have produced a detailed report on the distillery sector which can be found here .

We are engaging closely with the Cromarty Hydrogen Project (Storegga) 10.6MW and Scottish Power Whitelees Project 7.1MW both of whom are targeting industrial heat as an offtake for their renewable hydrogen and were successful in their applications for support from the UK Government via the first allocation round of the hydrogen production business model.

In addition, the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) has match-funded support grants for feasibility and engineering studies which can allow industrial manufacturers to investigate how they could use hydrogen to decarbonise their operations.

Question reference: S6W-27167

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is (a) strengthening existing relationships and (b) developing new bilateral partnerships in relation to the potential of hydrogen, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

We are continuously working to strengthen and develop new relationships through our international hydrogen engagement programme.

Given the increased interest in hydrogen imports from across Europe, we continue to work with the UK Government to establish key strategic partnership with Scotland’s near northern neighbours that can assist the development of a North Sea hydrogen corridor for the production and export of hydrogen into the North of Europe and beyond.

We recognise that international co-operation will be key to developing future hydrogen markets and their supporting infrastructure and we will continue to seek out opportunities to collaborate through projects such as the Hydrogen Backbone Link and the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland to Rotterdam project .

We have already signed several key strategic hydrogen partnership agreements with Denmark, key German states including Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and, Occitania in France and we continue to work to maximise their outputs. Scotland is also a member of Hydrogen Europe and the Vanguard initiative, allowing further collaboration with key strategic European partners.

Question reference: S6W-27144

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding any reasons for the reported failure of NHS Scotland's usual cyber security defences, which allowed medical information about patients to be accessed.

The criminal investigation by Police Scotland, supported by other agencies, into this attack is still going on. As such there is a limited amount that I can share at this moment in time. As the investigation progresses the Scottish Government and partners will undertake a lessons identified exercise and share its findings with public bodies so they are able to take preventative steps to defend against similar attacks.

Question reference: S6W-27143

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the reported cyber attacks in NHS Scotland led to medical information about patients being accessed.

A cyber threat actor was able to gain unauthorised access to NHS Dumfries and Galloway's infrastructure during a targeted and sustained cyber-attack. As the member will understand,NHS Dumfries and Galloway's IT infrastructure contains information that includes patient's medical information.

The member may find the frequently asked questions published by NHS Dumfries and Galloway to be of use in finding further information: Cyber Attack – FAQ – NHS Dumfries & Galloway (nhsdg.co.uk) .

Question reference: S6W-27170

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in building the evidence base and support for international cooperation on the development of infrastructure, transport routes and international supply chains in relation to hydrogen projects, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government continues to build a strong evidence base in relation to the development of key infrastructure, transport routes and supply chains necessary to develop hydrogen export opportunities.

We are engaging with key European ports such as the Ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg which we expect to become major hydrogen hubs. This includes working with the Port of Rotterdam and other strategic partners on Phase 2 of the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland Project (LHyTS), led by NZTC. The project is a feasibility assessment for a pilot trial for the shipment of LOHC from Scotland to the northern European mainland via Rotterdam, laying the foundations for establishing the viability of a strategic export route for hydrogen between Scotland and the EU.

We have also funded the Net Zero Technology Centre's Hydrogen Backbone Link project to assess the potential to connect Scotland to a European Hydrogen Backbone by either repurposing and optimising existing pipeline infrastructure or through the development of new infrastructure. Phase 1 of the study is now complete, with work on Phase 2 currently ongoing. A key focus of Phase 1 included the consideration of pipeline routing, identifying a preferred option connecting four production points (Sullom Voe, Flotta Terminal, St Fergus and Nigg Bay), with Emden in Germany.

In support of the development and publication of the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan, the Scottish Government has also commissioned several research studies. This includes the North Sea Hydrogen Alliance project led by NZTC in partnership with the German consultancy Cruh21, and the German umbrella organisation AquaVentus, focussing on investigating pipeline infrastructure between Scotland and Germany; and matching Scottish hydrogen production to German hydrogen demand. The project will help to strengthen existing ties between Scotland and Germany, building the case for hydrogen export from Scotland, and solidify the case for infrastructure investment in both Scottish and German Waters.

Chamber and committees