 Thank you, Reverend Matanda Cufa, and we move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 3027, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting out revisions to this week's business. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and moved. No member has asked to speak on the motion, and the question is that motion 3027 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is topical questions, in order to get in as many members as possible. I'd be grateful for short and succinct questions and answers, and I call question number one, Graeme Simpson. Thank you to ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported problems with applying for free under-22 bus travel passes. Minister Jenny Gilruth I was delighted to visit Glasgow yesterday and with Patrick Harvie, the Minister for Active Travel, to press the start button on free bus travel for Scotland's under-22s. As we went live, over 117,000 online applications had been received, with over 55,000 cards having been issued, with a further 16,000 cards issued offline by councils. I appreciate we have a long way to go to still reach the 930,000 eligible young people, but given that we only opened for applications 16 working days ago, that is an excellent achievement, and I look forward to increasing numbers of young people enjoying its benefits in the coming weeks. I recognise that some people have found the application process complex and hard to undertake, not least because of the identification requirements. The improvement service, which runs the online portal, has already made changes to the process in response to feedback. For example, they have now relaxed the proof of identity criteria and are now accepting out-of-date passports and proof-of-address in the past 12 instead of three months. Local authorities can also take applications in person. Yesterday, I wrote to all local authorities, thanking them and encouraging them to do all that they can to help make the scheme a success. We are also engaging with stakeholder organisations that can help us to better reach those young people and families. I want to give the member in the chamber a reassurance today that I will continue to explore the ways in which we can make it easier for young people to apply for their national entitlement card, because that policy is absolutely vital for opening up work, training, education and leisure opportunities for the young people of Scotland. Graham Simpson. I thank the minister for that answer, which I heard with interest. It should not really take the improvement service to step in at the 11th hour to make improvements that should have been there in the first place. However, it is welcome. Parents and youngsters have described the process as bureaucratic, one even called it stasi-like. I have heard today that people who have been lucky enough to get the card are reporting that they do not even work. Perhaps the minister might want to look into that. We have got a backlog of about 40,000 young people waiting for these cards. What is the minister going to do for them? I thank Graham Simpson for his supplementary question. It is important to remind the chamber of the context of the timescales involved in the introduction of the new under-22 bus pass. Back in early January, we were still dealing with a seek rise in Omicron cases. That directly impacted on the launch of the scheme itself and our subsequent message. Mr Simpson will recall that my predecessor wrote to all members regarding this change earlier this month. Applications went live on January 10, with the focus at that time being on those young people with an essential need to travel, or, as it was put in the letter to all MSPs, a soft launch of the scheme. The Government guidance in place on January 10 was still for people to work from home. I hope that Mr Simpson recognises the reason for our focus change to therefore be more appropriate in support of the public health guidance at that time. It is also worth saying that this approach was intended to help to minimise pressures on our local authorities who were also impacted by the current situation with the pandemic and who are also responsible for processing applications and responding to inquiries. I accept that pandemic restrictions have now eased and that has impacted on our approach with the official launch in Glasgow yesterday and the Government's marketing campaign to follow shortly. However, I suppose that Mr Simpson has a specific point on the information service that has direct responsibility for the roll-out of the scheme. I will be meeting with him at the start of next week to discuss in detail further changes that we might seek to take forward, but I hope that he will accept that that does not detract from the importance of having a successful roll-out of the under-22 scheme. I am not sure what the applause is all about. I want to assure the Minister that the Deputy First Minister is speaking from a sedentary position. I am not sure what he is chuntering about, but I want this scheme to be a success. Can I ask about another issue that has cropped up? SPT, with the scheme, SPT and Edinburgh Trams say that the introduction of the scheme will cost them money because youngsters will be using buses rather than their services. I wonder if the Minister has reflected on what they have had to say and whether the scheme could be extended to Glasgow Underground and Edinburgh Trams. On extension, we are undertaking a fair-phase review to look at a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fair. I do not want to prejudge the outcome of that review. On the second point to Mr Simpson's question, we have worked with the confederation of passenger transport to arrive at reimbursement rates to reach that, and I think that that is hugely important to recognise that. We will be ensuring that we can help bus services to recover from the impact of the pandemic. That is what the scheme is also intended to deliver. It will encourage more children and young people to travel sustainably. The free bus scheme aims that bus operators should be financially no better or no worse off as a result of their participation. To the specifics on SPT and Edinburgh Trams, I have received no direct representation on that matter. He might appreciate having just been in post, but if he would like to share that information with my private office, I would be more than happy to meet with both organisations and to have a further conversation on the issues that he has raised today. Can I ask the minister how local authorities can help in the implementation of this scheme, which has the potential to offer life-changing opportunities to our children and young people by giving them a chance to access increased social, educational and work opportunities? As members may be aware, until very recently I was a local councillor and I am sure that my former colleagues in the SNP councillors in South Asia are working hard to make sure that the local authority supports this great initiative, especially to enable people to apply successfully who do not have the required identifications for online applications. I thank the member for her question. She is right that local authorities play a really vital part in administering the application process for the free bus travel scheme. As I mentioned previously yesterday, I wrote to all local authorities thanking them for all they have done to help to support the launch of the scheme, but also encouraging them to do more to help us to encourage young people to sign up to make the scheme a success. Although many applications are processed through online channels, as we have heard, that is provided by the Improvement Service, a number will come directly to local authorities. I know that many local councils have dedicated staff on hand to help with applicants who may have difficulty with the application process, including, for example, care experience young people or asylum seekers who may need particular support. We have not directed councils in terms of how they might provide that support, but I recognise that, where those necessary mechanisms are not in place, I would ask local authorities to let my officials know as soon as possible in order to resolve any issues that they might have locally. I am very concerned to hear from the minister that over 800,000 children and young people do not yet have their free bus pass. Can the minister confirm that it is the Government's ambition to get every child and young person this bus pass? If not, what is the target and when will it be achieved? It absolutely is this Government's intention to have every child and young person sign up to the scheme, but I will reiterate to Mr Bibby some of the challenges that we face at the end of the start of this year, in my response to Graham Simpson. I have already given him the example at the start of this year of where we were with the pandemic and the necessary requirement that my predecessor set out to delay the implementation of the scheme, which led to a soft launch earlier in January and the firming up of the launch of the scheme yesterday. I have also laid out some of the changes that the Improvement Service has brought in in recognition of some of the challenges that we face and my own actions minister in writing to local authorities. In addition to that, I will be meeting with the Improvement Service next week to look again at the numbers. I take on board Mr Bibby's point with regard to the uptake this far, but I hope that he will also join me in ensuring that we get a higher uptake of applications to the scheme, because this scheme is really vital for the children and young people of Scotland. It is going to open up opportunities for them, work, leisure and fantastic opportunities to get out and about across the country. I hope very much that Mr Bibby would help to support that message and I would be more than happy to discuss it with him in more detail, but I hope that he will also take a licence of some of the actions that I have already taken on the matters that he has outlined today. I warmly welcome the minister to her new role. I also highlight that there is some brilliant work happening in schools across the country, particularly Perth and Kinross, who are using the parent portal system to sign up entire age groups across the school. Can you ask her then what more can schools do? Should we start seeing more roll-out perhaps in primary schools as well? We are absolutely determined to ensure that children and young people who might benefit the most from free bus travel do not miss out. We know that some families might not be able to apply online, as I alluded to in a previous answer, or have the required identity proof to do so. That is why there are a number of different ways to apply, including directly with a local authority. We also know that some families might need that additional help or support to access the scheme, so we are working with delivery partners, stakeholders and children's third sector organisations, which include Barnardo Scotland, Poverty Alliance, Carrister Scotland, Citizens Advice Scotland and many others. Finally, all local councils have the option of co-ordinating applications through schools on behalf of their pupils, as Mark Ruskell alluded to. Some are already doing this, and he gives the example of Perth and Kinross, and I would hope that, as long as resources allow and when it is safe to do so, more local authorities will take up that offer. 2. Mercedes Vialba To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to support communities affected by storm malic and storm quarry, including addressing the impact on the provision of services such as public transport. We have been working closely with key partners to coordinate the preparation for and response to storm malic and storm quarry. The Deputy First Minister and the First Minister led score ministerial meetings from Friday evening and over the weekend to ensure this, which I attended with other ministers. Local resilience partnerships continue to be active and are helping to provide welfare provisions for communities that have been affected. Per companies have worked throughout the weekend deploying additional staff where necessary to recover power supplies, and that work is continuing in some areas today. I also received regular reports from the Transport Scotland resilience team throughout the weekend and attended ScotRail tactical command meetings throughout Monday and on Sunday evening. Rail and road staff worked since Friday, including overnight, to ensure the safety and recovery of the transport network and that public transport provision can operate with minimal disruption where possible. I want to thank everyone who is working still and often in difficult conditions to keep people safe to help recovery and also with regard to maintaining lifeline services. The Scottish Government has also activated the bell and scheme to provide additional revenue support to local authorities who may apply. I thank the minister for her response. Rural areas across the north-east have been disproportionately impacted compared to urban areas as a result of recent storms. The Scottish Government has made a series of commitments in recent years around rural repopulation, so that is why the resilience of rural communities and their infrastructure, such as broadband and power, is so vital. Can the minister outline what steps the Scottish Government is taking to improve the resilience of rural communities and, in particular, rural infrastructure? I thank Mercedes Villabour for her question. Specifically, in relation to the preparations that we took in advance of Storm Malik and Storm Corrie, she mentioned some of the challenges facing rural communities, and that was very present at the start of the weekend when we saw power outages, for example, in the north-east of Scotland. I know that my colleague Gillian Martin has raised the issue on a number of occasions previously. With regard to the specifics of her question, we have been working closely with responders, power companies, local authorities and Transport Scotland to co-ordinate the preparation for and response to Storm Malik and Storm Corrie. The Deputy First Minister previously commissioned a Scottish Government review into the response to Storm Armament. That review was published just last week, and any lessons learned were taken forward in our planning and response to Storm Malik and Storm Corrie. However, it is important to say that every event like this is different. Although we can learn lessons from the Storm Arwin occasion, the event was quite unique. At the start of the weekend, we were perhaps preparing for a more challenging situation as the conditions started to ease and things started to get better. I have just seen before I came into the chamber that power has been restored to the vast majority of homes across Scotland, which I hope the member will welcome. She also asked questions on the specifics of our rural opportunities. I will defer to the Deputy First Minister on that to get more of a detailed answer for her on that, if that is content to her. In 2020, the National Infrastructure Commission published a study into resilience, and it made key recommendations such as government setting resilience standards every five years, the need for infrastructure operators to carry out regular stress tests and to have long-term resilience strategies in place. I appreciate that we have had a recent spate of storms, but there is a need for long-term planning around those events. Can the minister outline whether the Scottish Government supports the NIC's recommendations? If so, what engagement is it having with the UK Government on the development of a national resilience strategy? I thank Mercedes Villabour for her question. On the specifics of her question, yes. I will respond in detail to her, and I am aware that there has already been work on going with the UK Government on that matter. I reflect on some of the challenges that are perhaps experienced by the rail network in terms of resilience over the course of the weekend. I know that it is not specific of the question, but I think that it is relevant nonetheless to the transport portfolio. If you can do very briefly, minister, as we have other members who are very interested to put a question. Very briefly, I just want to put on the record my thanks to the ScotRail Network Rail for all the work that they undertook over the weekend in improving some of the rail lines. I recognise very much some of the challenges here. ScotRail decided late on Sunday evening to cancel services from 1,800 hours, which did impact on travel conditions on Monday morning. I just want to thank the ScotRail staff for their work in putting in place bus infrastructure in particular, which speaks to some of the resilience challenges that Mercedes Villabour mentioned in her question. Clearly, winter always brings disruption to ferry schedules and the on-going high winds today are also causing such issues. How is the Scottish Government ensuring going forward that there are no resilience or welfare issues that arise in island communities as a result of the periods of prolonged service disruption? The decision to delay or cancel sailing is never taken lightly, as the operator fully recognises the importance of the ferry services to island and rural communities. CalMac operating on the Clyde and Hebrides route and Northlink operating to the Northern Isles have an effective working relationship with the Transport Scotland ferries unit and Transport Scotland's resilience team. Operators will ensure where possible and when safe to do so services are provided to connect lifeline and remote island mainline communities when opportunities arise and they liaise with key local stakeholders and local resilience partners to ensure welfare issues are addressed. The Scottish Government is currently working with island community stakeholders and representatives to establish reporting mechanisms that will provide regular overviews of the current challenges and issues impacting on island communities. The information gathered through this approach will provide an understanding of the impacts of operational approaches and will be shared with national and local government local resilience partnerships and other key agencies to ensure a collective understanding of the experience of our island communities. I was in Stonehaven yesterday where around 13,000 people were without power. The main feedback from those people who were affected was that they found it almost impossible to access up-to-date information. Recommendation 5 of Storm Arwyn review emphasises that opportunities for co-ordination and communication should be maintained where responders and those in need of assistance are without power or telecoms. What is the Scottish Government doing to take this forward? I thank Tess White for her question. We have previously heard from another member about the challenges in the north-east of Scotland and I know that just ahead of coming into the Chamber of Scottish and Southern Electricity network said that, as of 12 o'clock today, power has been restored to 105,000 customers with around 9,500 customers remaining off-supply. To the specifics of her question about the energy networks, both SPN and SSEN contributed to the score meetings over this weekend. On the specific question that she raises about Storm Arwyn and learning lessons, those recommendations are being taken forward. She will appreciate that the review was only published last week, but I want to give her an assurance that, already through our experience of Storm Malick and Storm Corrie, we have taken forward the lessons from what happened during Storm Arwyn, recognising, though, that every situation and every storm, as it presents, is very unique. We need to be cognisant of the local pressures and challenges at that immediate moment in time.