Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. My questions are about hydrogen and water production. As the cabinet secretary knows, my constituency has probably attracted more investment than any other through Energy Park Fife for district heating and transportation, and the SGN H100 project. Nearly 400 houses will be heated by and will cook with hydrogen. What assumptions has the Scottish Government made about water usage for hydrogen production? What engagement have you had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Water? There is a need for hydrogen, but in future, there will be a greater need. As you mentioned, hydrogen production could go on to the grid—I think that it could take 25 per cent of current demand. There is talk of hydrogen power stations and hydrogen trains. In Germany, hydrogen is being used in steel plants, because it is a lot cheaper. Therefore, there will be a greater need for it.

10:45

I would like to push you on that point, cabinet secretary. It looks as though most of the hydrogen production will be down the east coast, because of the concentration of wind farms there, while most of the vast water reserves are on the west coast. As you pointed out, Fife had water restrictions for months last year. If hydrogen is to be an energy source of the future, how can we ensure that the water supply is there and bring in the investors without affecting traditional industries?

I wonder whether the committee would consider keeping the petition open and writing to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to ask whether a February update on the work of a national review group will include a decision on whether to launch an inquiry into group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation.

In the light of the time that is left to the committee, I wonder whether we could consider closing the petitions under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the committee has progressed the issues raised in the petitions as far as is possible in this parliamentary session and has raised relevant issues, as part of the thematic evidence session, with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

In the light of the evidence before us and given that the document will be published after the parliamentary session has finished, I wonder whether we could close the petition under section 15.7 of standing orders but ask the petitioner whether he would like to bring the petition back in the new parliamentary session.

I thank the petitioner for submitting the petition. I believe that significant progress has been made by the Scottish Government, so I ask that the committee consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that the committee has raised relevant issues as part of the thematic evidence session with the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health; that, following engagement with the petitioner, the Scottish Government funded a stroke education package for NHS staff, which also covers the less common presentations of stroke; and that the Scottish Government has committed to undertaking an assessment of NHS Forth Valley’s use of BE FAST for stroke screening, to understand what learning can be applied to stroke awareness work more generally.

In closing the petition, the committee could write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health to highlight the substantive work that has been undertaken by the committee on this and other relevant petitions.

In the light of the evidence before us, I wonder whether the committee would consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the committee has raised relevant issues as part of a thematic evidence session with the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health. Moreover, the most recent Scottish cardiac audit programme includes data on inherited cardiac conditions for the first time, and work is on-going to develop a proof of concept for a sudden cardiac death registry, with the aim of including preliminary data in next year’s Scottish cardiac audit programme.

Finally, I note that the Scottish Government adheres to UK National Screening Committee guidance, and that the UK NCS will review relevant evidence over the next three years. In closing the petition, the committee could write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health to highlight the substantial work that has been undertaken by the committee on this and other relevant petitions.

In the light of evidence from the Scottish Government, I wonder whether the committee will consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of standard orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government does not believe that extending planning decision-making powers to community councils is compatible with the role and aims of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. Existing legislation allows for decisions on planning applications to be made by relevant local area committees, and such an approach is an operational matter for individual local authorities. The committee has pursued the aims of the petition as far as is possible in the current parliamentary session.

Time is short for the committee, but I would like to keep the petition open. In the light of the petitioner’s on-going concerns, will the committee consider writing to the Scottish Government to ask in what ways it is assessing the effectiveness of the preventive measures that are currently in place and what more can be done to improve them?

In the light of the time that is left to the committee, I wonder whether we could consider closing the petitions under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the committee has progressed the issues raised in the petitions as far as is possible in this parliamentary session and has raised relevant issues, as part of the thematic evidence session, with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.