 The next item of business is a debate on motion 9838, in the name of Christina McKelvie, on quick credit voucher tackling tool poverty in Scotland. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Those members who wish to speak in the debate, please press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Christina McKelvie to open the date. Ms McKelvie, please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I say a grateful thanks to those colleagues across the chamber who signed the motion in order for it to be debated today, because it is an incredibly important subject that we do debate today. It is very easy to define fuel poverty because of the relative cost of keeping a small flat compared to maybe a big, cold, drafty house, because the difference is so diverse. The health and wellbeing of people who live there and the household income all bearing on costs alongside an unpredictable weather and the wholesale price of energy has a bearing too. We cannot look at the UK Government for a definition. It is so complicated with median energy and equalised energy and after-housing cost calculations that your head will be spinning and you will be left hopelessly confused. However, fortunately, in Scotland we have made that a bit more simple. The Scottish Government uses a 10 per cent measure of fuel poverty, so a household that spends more than 10 per cent of its income on adequate energy at home is in fuel poverty. That is how we define it. In 2016, the fuel poverty rate under this Government decreased by 4.2 per cent, equivalent to around 99,000 fewer households living in fuel poverty. That year, 26.5 per cent or 649,000 households were fuel-pure, compared to 30.7 or 748,000 households the year before. There was also a fall in households living in extreme fuel poverty from 203,000 in 2015 to 183,000 in 2016, which corresponds to the fall in the rate from 8.3 to 7.5 per cent. Age Scotland tells us in the briefing that they prepared for us for today that pensioner and older adult households are more disproportionately affected by fuel poverty. Those households with children and some with a disability are similarly disproportionately affected, too. As I said, we have made some progress, but we need to do much, much more. I will be keen to hear from the minister what action this Government is taking on this matter, too, because I know that there has been some things that have happened over the past wee while. Myself and my colleague SNP councillor Jo Yamar's are determined to seek action from the energy retailers that offer innovative ways to help combat fuel poverty, and that came about because, a year ago, past Christmas, both of us were doing independently a wee shift in the local food bank, helping them out at Christmas time, and we were preparing two separate bags, one bag for people who could cook the food and one bag for people who had no energy, so they needed cold food. That struck a chord with both of us, and independently we had a conversation about it and started to pursue some of the energy companies. We feel that it is totally unacceptable that we find often poor and ill people and people with young children shivering under blankets or eating cold food because they cannot afford power and are a power-rich nation. We continue to make really heartening progress on this, though. Scottish power representatives have been enthusiastic and supportive and showed us a real sense of corporate social responsibility and their response to our overtures, and met with us on many occasions. We were able to launch the quick credit voucher scheme with them in Hamilton and Clyde'sdale food banks, with the help of the fantastic volunteers there who helped to match their vulnerable clients to the scheme. I am delighted to have some of those fantastic volunteers, including the amazing Isabel Graham and her supporters in the gallery, and of course Councillor Mars is here, too. The voucher is worth £49 in winter and £30 in the summer. Not a lot to you and I, but a huge amount of money if you do not have any energy in your household. It does not have to be repaid, and you can have up to three payments per household made in a 12-month period. It makes a huge difference to people who find themselves in extremity. There are now eight agencies, not just the two, of Hamilton and Clyde'sdale. Now eight agencies run in the quick credit voucher scheme with Scottish power, with a mix of food banks and citizen advice offices. However, the real numbers, Presiding Officers, 80 families in Hamilton have been supported in the short months since October, since the scheme has been running. Myself and Councillor Mars have written to the big six exploring how each may respond to making up a similar approach to their vulnerable customers. I would urge them to do so to look at the quick credit voucher scheme, and I know that they have many schemes in place because I have met many of them so far, but what people I know need is the instant response that they need when attending the food bank, traditionally that these will be people who will not be opening their bills, answering the calls or interactions from their energy companies, and in many cases there will be people who have been disconnected. Most of the energy companies, I have to say, have responded very positively, and the meetings that we have had have been incredibly constructive. The main energy companies have schemes in place, as I said, through their size and scales. They vary to provide help with arrears or support in finding ways to use fuel more efficiently. The Scottish Gas Energy Trust is one example that offers people grants to clear outstanding fuel debt and gives families, in a difficult situation, the chance to get back on track debt-free. UK-wide in 2016, the trust has provided 13,500 grants to families in fuel debt, and also you do not need to be a Scottish Gas customer to benefit from this scheme. Fuel Bank is another example. Launched in 2015, it has helped to provide over 85,000 people across the United Kingdom with financial support. It is a similar scheme to the quick credit voucher one, and, like Scottish Gas, they do not really care who supplies your fuel, they will pay you that voucher. In fact, only 3 per cent of the recipients are their own customers. In Power scheme provides food bank clients who have a pre-payment meter with a voucher worth £49 in winter and £30 in summer to top up the gas and electricity, a lifesaver for some. In Glasgow alone, around 3,100 people have been helped by the scheme since it launched, of which around 2,200 were adults and nearly 900 children. With my trusty sidekick councillor Jo Yamar's, I am going to visit the Glasgow N Power Fuel Bank next week with volunteers from both the Hamilton and Clyde Stale food banks. Nobody should be freezing in the dark or unable to cook their food at this time of year or at any time of the year, and I am extremely hopeful that the rest of the big six recognise the benefits of backing the quick credit voucher scheme or parallel schemes in conjunction with local food banks. My grateful thanks goes to all of the energy companies. We do not often thank them or praise them, but my grateful thanks goes because they have engaged so positively. I look forward to working with them all to make a real difference to those people who need it the most. A special thanks goes to Scottish Power, who have had the foresight to introduce the quick credit voucher scheme first, and they are happy to share what they have got with others in order to support them roll out. Let us get back to the real numbers. 80 families supported in Hamilton. Imagine that rolled out across Scotland. Imagine that rolled out across the United Kingdom. Imagine how many families can have that help. We cannot do much about the weather in Scotland, but no-one should have to choose between a warm home or a warm meal. I move the motion in my name because it is an incredibly important motion, and I am looking forward to hearing from all the contributions today. I am looking forward to working with the energy companies. I am coming to see you next week. Thank you very much. I politely and gently ask the public in the gallery not to applaud. It is not permitted in the Parliament. I understand why you want to, but you have to desist. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate. I congratulate my friend and colleague Christina McKelvie on securing it, but I thank her for her work and that of councillor Mars as well. It is a fantastic initiative. I have to confess that it was one that I was not familiar with until the motion came before me. Often, those debates can sometimes seem like adjournment debates that Westminster can seem like an addition and perhaps not the primary focus of the Parliament, but the amount that one learns in them is incredible. I think that that is a fantastic scheme that has to be more widely known. I would like to put on record as the motion indicates my recognition for the invaluable contribution that food banks make. In my constituency of Renfrewshire South, there is a Renfrewshire food bank based in Barhead, and there is a Renfrewshire food bank that serves many of my constituents in Renfrewshire. I am just based just outside the constituency. I have the pleasure of visiting both, and they do incredible work. One must admit that it is work that we would wish we did not have to do because we had a more equitable and fair society where people were not facing those circumstances. It is important to remember the circumstances that can lead people into fuel poverty and the need for food banks. Yes, there are circumstances that are incredibly complicated and resist easy analysis, but there are far too many people who, as a result of the punitive and draconian welfare reforms that have been implemented by the UK Government, where people have been penalised through sanctions and other measures for the smallest transgression or error. That is something that we have to be able to remind. Yes, it is fantastic initiatives such as the quick credit voucher scheme, but we also have to redouble our efforts to be tackling this at root cause and making sure that we have a welfare system that is delivered in Scotland that does put fairness and dignity at its heart, and that we continue to push the UK Government to deliver a more equitable scheme. However, this is a scheme that Christina McKelvie is highlighting that deserves as wide as possible recognition. I was very interested to realise the range of partnership organisations that are involved. As I said, I have mentioned Reference to Food Packs within my constituents. There is also East Renfisher CAB, which is in Barhead. Likewise, there is Renfisher CAB, which is just outside my constituency. There is also a fantastic community energy project, the local energy action plan, which is based in Llechwynog, but there are some constituents right across Renfisher, and I think that there is tremendous potential to expand as well. I certainly look forward to learning more about this scheme and to follow it and to learn more about my colleague Christina McKelvie's engagement with other energy companies. I look forward and I will be, after this debate, pestering Christina McKelvie to find out more and to find out who I can see this scheme and to introduce my own constituency, so that my constituents can benefit from it. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank Christina McKelvie for bringing in debate on a quick credit voucher to the chamber. I also support the efforts by Scottish Power and encourage other energy companies to follow their good example. When we look at the broader picture, I believe that the best way to help those who are in need of fuel assistance is to help them with better insulation and energy efficiency measures in order to reduce their energy bills. There is certainly more that the Scottish Government can do, and I will set out those suggestions as I progress. I should note at this point my register of interests, which covers businesses that are focused on reducing fuel poverty through the use of renewables and those that carry out improvements to the energy efficiency of housing. I and my Scottish Conservative colleagues have consistently argued for better energy efficiency in Scottish homes, and our manifesto commitment is to spend 10 per cent of the capital budget on making homes energy efficient, and that would involve spending £1 billion cumulatively over this parliamentary session. In my areas of the rural constituency, many older people reside in older houses and cottages, which are difficult to heat efficiently. There is a strong relationship between cold temperatures and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, lower dexterity in the home, mental health issues and, increasingly, isolation. We must acknowledge the fact that the UK Government has remained committed to capping energy prices and giving the consumer a fair deal, and that it has recently been announced that it has extended the safeguard tariff to almost a million vulnerable customers. I very much welcome that, and on the back of a safeguard tariff that was introduced for over 4 million households on pre-payment metres in April last year following a recommendation from the competition and markets authorities. Deputy Presiding Officer, I believe that these steps have gone some way in tackling fuel poverty and alleviating the burden on hefty bills on the consumer, but there is more that can be done. There have been changes proposed to the fuel legislation, and a further positive step that the SNP Government could do to alleviate poverty has been highlighted by the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers. Many rural homes far from the gas network are reliant on using kerosene-powered central heating. However, changes to environmental legislation in Scotland has meant that small to medium fuel suppliers have been hit with additional costs in licensing storage tanks. The Federation has pointed out that in a time where the Government is encouraging distributors to support customers facing fuel poverty, any additional costs will put further pressure on the distributor who will have no option but to pass for cost on to the end user. As I alluded to earlier, rural properties are often older and poorly insulated, and this change of legislation has the potential to severely impact those who are experiencing fuel poverty already in rural areas. I would seriously urge the SNP Government to look into revising those changes so that this does not become an unnecessary barrier to tackling fuel poverty and the expansion of small petroleum supplying businesses. In conclusion, if we properly invest in energy efficiency measures, we will see the numbers of people in fuel poverty drastically decrease. I am encouraged by the steps taken by Scottish Power and would call on other companies to look into similar schemes and call on the Scottish Government to ensure that they are not causing unnecessary price rises in rural fuel deliveries through purely considered legislation. Yes, I mean, I was on the edges at times of not speaking to the motion. You did dip in and out. I just warn members to speak to what is down in the motion. There was nothing about insulation and so on in this motion. It was very specific at times. You came back on to it, but be wary, that's to all members, to keep speaking to the motion. I now call Pauline McNeill to follow by Kate Forbes. Thank you. There are a few more important issues for the people that we represent and access to affordable energy, and there are a few more controversial issues than the rising cost of fuel for households. Her aspiration is for every single Scot to live in a warm and secure home. Unfortunately, we are far from that goal, and the reality, as Christina McKelvie says, is that a quarter of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty. Christina McKelvie, councillor Julie Amars and Frank Field MP have done their constituents a great service by trialling the quick voucher scheme introduced by Scottish Power in late 2017. I commend them all for what they have done, because I believe that they have trailblazed for the rest of us, and I too, like Tom Arthur, are interested to know more about how my constituents can benefit. However, as you have heard, it is designed to help customers who have been referred to food banks and who may also be in need of one-off assistance with their energy bills. Indeed, Glasgow Central Citizens Advice Bureau is one of the agencies involved in running the quick voucher scheme, which is a lifeline for many people. However, I sincerely hope, as Christina McKelvie has said, that all energy companies will adopt this scheme and that all agencies who will refer people to food banks can also refer them and be partners in the scheme. Many customers struggle to pay their bills, and sadly that number will increase as acute austerity continues, with no sign of the cost of living coming down and a real-terms peer cut in many sectors. The quick voucher scheme is only part of the solution to a wider problem, but fuel poverty is a health issue too. We all know that if you don't have enough money to heat your home in the winter, then it can seriously damage your health. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence also says that houses should have a minimum EPC rating of C by 2025. I believe that there has to be an ambitious plan in this Parliament to improve insulation and energy efficiency in thousands of homes across the country, and we should take more radical steps to do that. In my view, the big six energy companies need to be challenged further on how they deal and support vulnerable customers. At the very minimum, I believe, they should be taken off the standard variable tariff and placed on a more favourable deal. I would go further and make it a mandatory requirement that the energy company should write to all customers on standard variable tariffs and make it clear to them that there are cheaper deals available. The competition and markets authority says that they are paying an average of £300 more on a substantial amount of money, and I think that that has to be tackled. I welcome Scottish powers policy on disconnections as one other way of supporting vulnerable customers. The customers, as long as they have 0.01 pence on their account by 6 pm on their meter, can stay on supply until 9 o'clock the following day. They have a scheme to ensure that the repayment of debt associated with a prepayment meter has now much friendlier options that previously existed. The central point that I make is that more needs to be done to help vulnerable customers and prepayment meters, because those who choose or have to be on a prepayment meter should not be penalised for doing so. It is a very sad day in our society that we have to survive with food banks. I hope that we all long for the day where that is not the case, and now we have fuel banks to stop people slipping into complete deprivation. At least we have a response that can make a difference. I welcome the debate that Christina McKelvie has brought to the chamber, and I look forward to learning more about the quick voucher scheme. Thank you very much. I call Kate Forbes, who is referred by Maurice Golden. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is such a fantastic debate to be having on the first day back after recess. I spent a few days over recess in the country of Nepal staring deprivation in the face, and you can come back with a real sense of hopelessness at the chronic inequality worldwide. Although I cannot compare Scotland to Nepal, it is absolutely absurd that, in a country of such prosperity, with relative stability and a strong democratic system, there are people in Scotland today who face the choice of eating or eating that the numbers of people using food banks who depend on food banks for their daily meals are going up and that there are those who sit at home in the freezing cold unable to pay for their bills. I heartily support that motion and would back the calls in it to see that particular initiative rolled out for, among other energy companies, whether that is EON, Npower, British Gas, EDF and SSE. It can often feel in this job that, on a daily basis, we are dealing with very hopeless situations. When an MSP comes up with a tangible, workable solution that has a direct impact on real people's lives, it deserves huge respect, which I have for Christina McKelvie. Perhaps the problem of fuel poverty is seen nowhere near as stark as it is in the Highlands. In the Highlands, over a fifth of households in the remote and rural areas are classified as being extremely fuel poor. That means that 20 per cent of a family's income is going on fuel. Another 40 per cent are classified as fuel poor, which means that 10 per cent of their income is going on heating the home. Whilst every case of fuel poverty is a family or an individual who is facing that choice of how they spend their money and whether they will spend another cold night or cold day at home, the particular case in the Highlands and Islands is disproportionately unacceptable. Particularly when households are often within sight of energy generation, when the wires transporting energy from our renewable sources in the Highlands and Islands pass their front door and then return to them at a surcharge. Although the debate is about praising energy companies for the initiative, I would be very keen on seeing the Prime Minister introducing a much fairer pricing system as part of her general review of caps on energy costs. Christina McKelvie asked us to imagine that initiative being rolled out across Scotland, and I think that that is a fantastic idea. One of the most significant aspects of it is that it appears that it is not just customer-led, but that it comes down to partner agencies spotting the need. One of the big problems that I have seen is that very humble, particularly members of the elderly population, are sitting at home not knowing what to do about the fact that they cannot afford the heating and do not ask for help. It comes down to partner agencies being aware of who needs help and seeking them out. Christina McKelvie is very welcome to come to the Highlands and Islands where I know that she is already a very popular visitor. I would love to work with her and anybody else on rolling that out across the Highlands and Islands region, which is in dire need of a tangible, workable solution like that. I thank Christina McKelvie for bringing this debate forward, because fuel poverty is one of the great societal challenges that we face. The motion mentions action being taken by Scottish Power to help their customers. I applaud such initiatives to help their most vulnerable customers and encourage others to do likewise. I recognise that Scottish Power has a range of initiatives in place to help vulnerable customers from a hardship fund to allowing customers to transfer their debt to cheaper suppliers to less impactful disconnects and, of course, to support the warm's home discount. Commendable as they are, such schemes tackle neither the root causes of fuel poverty or the frightening scale of the problem. In the past week, I have seen the impact of fuel poverty affecting some of the world's poorest in Nepal. Closer to home in Clydebank in the west of Scotland, the Clydebank Post ran a feature on how more had to be done to help local families. I agree, and it will require politicians to work together if we are to see success. Almost a million Scots live in fuel poverty according to Shelter Scotland. It is within our power to solve that, yet the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland notes that the current strategy, 10 per cent of households could still be in fuel poverty by 2040. If we are serious about tackling the underlying causes of fuel poverty, we must step up to the challenge. A good start would be recognising the need for action on energy efficiency, a view taken by dozens of organisations such as Age Scotland, Bernardo's and the existing Homes Alliance. To every opposition party, I agree that a target should be set for a minimum EPC band C rating. The Scottish Conservatives want to see this accomplished for every property where possible by the end of the 2020s. That would tackle fuel poverty head-on. According to the Scottish Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group, rates of fuel poverty are lower among those living in properties with better energy efficiency ratings. Less than the fifth of households in band B and C live in fuel poverty compared with almost three quarters of households in band F and G properties. Heating a home would be easier and cheaper, helping up to 1.5 million households according to WWF Scotland. Almost a million Scots are living in fuel poverty, and that is not good enough. Only action will take—we must take action in order to resolve that. Again, a little close to the wind and moving off the motion. We'll let that pass for just now. You've been told. Ruth Maguire, please. You're the last speaker in the open debate. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thanks to Christina McKelvie for bringing that really important topic to the chamber and for her tireless campaigning and action on this issue. The blight of fuel poverty is not something that can be eradicated by government alone. Energy providers also have an important role to play, and it's both welcome and encouraging to see that Scottish Power has responded to this duty in an ethical and socially responsible manner. There can be no doubt that the quick credit voucher scheme is making a difference to people's lives, saving individuals and families from some of the anxiety of having to choose between food or fuel. Citrus Energy is a social enterprise based in Ardrossan, which operates in my Cunningham South constituency. It exists to help domestic and commercial energy consumers to make genuine savings on gas and electricity costs through impartial advice and support. In advance of this debate, Deputy Operations Manager Margaret Corrigan told me that, since December, when we were authorized to use the scheme, we have had 40 vouchers for £49 issued to clients. We have found that invaluable for our vulnerable clients. Mrs Rennie is one of the people who Citrus Energy was able to help through the Scottish Power voucher scheme. Mrs Rennie suffers from pernicious anemia and asthma and had been working part-time on a zero-hours contract. She is also on universal credit and her working hours had interfered with her universal credit payment. She had no money whatsoever for gas and electricity and was desperate. In her own words, the voucher was a godsend. The case is also reflective of how benefit sanctions and universal credit are major factors in people needing to use food banks and facing fuel poverty in the first place. The damage that continues to be caused by universal credit is indisputably clear and it should be halted immediately. Another point that I would like to make is the importance of ensuring that energy companies engage with the widest possible range of partner agencies to deliver support to vulnerable customers. Scottish Power's current partner agencies, for example, include food banks and citizens advice bureaus, as well as community energy projects such as Citrus Energy. Although Citrus Energy is authorised to administer Scottish Power's voucher schemes, the various existing support schemes run by suppliers such as British Gas, N Power and Eon do not currently authorise Citrus Energy as agents to obtain vouchers or to phone and register on their customers behalf. Citrus Energy has also highlighted to me what it sees as a growing issue of the citizens advice bureaus being the only recognised organisations for issues on fuel poverty in the eyes of suppliers, and it points out that not all their clients can readily access bureaus in all areas. With no other means to source credit for non-Scottish power customers, Citrus Energy has had to negotiate with its suppliers to give them advanced credit to allow them to have heating and light. However, that is a loan that is repayable by the client. In addition, energy suppliers may not advance enough credit to see the household through to the next benefit payment. What is more, they often have a policy of only issuing one in a 12-month period, although Citrus Energy has managed to secure more than that for some very vulnerable customers. Even then, it flies in the face of what we are trying to achieve, which is supporting people to get out of debt and budget for their energy. Instead, it results in clients owing money just to be able to have heating and light. The importance of ensuring that the widest range of organisations is possible or authorised to administer support schemes is definitely something to keep in mind as the campaign continues. In my constituency, I intend to look into how we can expand the provision of energy support schemes so that they are as accessible to as many people as possible. Against the backdrop of the damaging roll-out of universal credit and destructive and punitive sanctions, it is regrettable that a reality that fuel poverty and reliance on food banks are everyday threats for many of my constituents. I commend Scottish power and end power for the social responsibility demonstrated by their schemes and add my voice to the calls for other companies to do the same. I call on the minister to close the Government. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am grateful to Christina McKelvie for raising this important issue. I thank everyone for their contributions today. I also welcome Isabel Graham and the volunteers to the gallery. You are most welcome. I want to welcome the tireless work of Christina McKelvie, who, alongside Councillor Julia Mars, gained Scottish power support to pilot the quick credit voucher scheme and ensured that it was set up for her constituents in South Lanarkshire. I would also pay tribute to Frank Field, as Pauline McNeill has done, who has done similar south to the border. I know and talk to Ms McKelvie that she has respect for the manner that she has conducted herself in that issue, too. As we have heard, the project offers those using food banks a credit voucher to help with energy costs. I am sure that members join me in thanking Ms McKelvie for her continued campaigning and will also press other energy companies to follow suit. Initiatives like those help those on the lowest of incomes, people who often have to make the choices between eating and heating, as Kate Forbes and others have said. It is a positive step, but we must not forget that those schemes are only necessary because the UK Government's punitive welfare reforms take money out of the pockets and food out of the mouths of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. No one should be hungry and cold and have to rely on emergency help. I hope that, at some point, the UK Tory Government will see sense and will do a U-Town on their welfare reform, austerity agenda and social security cuts that we have seen far too many of in recent years. The Scottish Government's £1 million a year fair food fund supports projects across the country to help us to eradicate the need for food banks in Scotland. Those projects work to tackle food poverty in dignified ways that build both individual and community. Latest figures indicate recent improvements in fuel poverty levels, with almost 100,000 fewer households in fuel poverty in 2016 compared to 2015, which Ms McKelvie highlighted in her speech. However, it has to be said that we know that much more needs to be done. This Government has a clear aspiration to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland, and although the power to regulate the energy markets rests with the UK Government, we are determined to be innovative in using the powers that we have to target support when it is needed most. I wish, however, that Mrs May and her Government lived up to their promises in terms of capping energy prices, which sadly have gone by the wayside. We are investing more in tackling fuel poverty than any other Government. Since 2008, we have helped to deliver more than 1 million energy efficiency measures to more than 1 million households. We are on track to deliver our commitment to making £1 billion available for fuel poverty and energy efficiency between 2009 and the end of this Parliament. It would also be useful if some of the UK Government's schemes were run a little better. I am surprised that Ms Hawke is not here today. She normally has something to say about the inadequacies of the UK Government's Green Deal scheme, which has failed people right across Scotland. I hope that Conservative colleagues in the chamber will help us to get the UK Government to put those mis-sold and shabby schemes back into a reality in which people can go on and live in their households the way that they were supposed to rather than be left with defective homes. Mr Golden is speaking from the sidelines there. If he wants to intervene, I am more than happy to take his intervention on that point. Maurice Golden I thank the member for taking intervention. Is the member not embarrassed by the Scottish Government's track record on failure to eliminate fuel poverty? The member has done much to alleviate fuel poverty in this country, and we will set out our agenda further in our warm homes bill, which will come shortly. I think that the Tories should be a little bit embarrassed about welfare reforms and the stupidities of their fuel poverty schemes, which, as I said, have put folk backwards in Scotland rather than forwards. I hope that Mr Golden will talk to his colleagues south of the border and help us to get to a point where those folks who have suffered from the Green Deal are compensated for that. We also support, in partial supply or switching, support service through a partnership between Home Energy Scotland and the social enterprise Citrus Energy, which Ms McGuire has mentioned in her speech. The initiative helps to simplify the switching process for those without internet access or who struggle to navigate price comparison websites. However, all of that is not just the responsibility of the Scottish Government, particularly when we do not hold all the powers. Energy companies themselves have a key role in delivering a fairer Scotland. The voucher scheme that we are discussing today is encouraging, and I urge more energy companies to look at similar initiatives to help local communities. Of course, we want to work with energy companies in whatever way we can to do that. Last month, the Government convened a summit that brought energy suppliers and consumer groups together to find practical solutions. I believe passionately that that kind of collaboration is the only way to drive real change. For example, as a result of the summit, suppliers have agreed to do more to assist those struggling to pay their energy bills. We will be working closely with them to develop a process for them to report back to Government. We want to make sure that that practice goes beyond the traditional big six suppliers. That best practice will be shared across the sector, and consumer groups such as Citizens Advice Scotland will focus on how to engage customers who need the most support to help them to switch or avoid self-disconnection. We continue to look at innovative ways to tackle fuel, poverty in our communities, including solutions to improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses through Scotland's energy efficiency programme, or SEAP for short. By the middle of this century, we will have transformed the energy efficiency and heating of our buildings so that, wherever technically feasible and practical, buildings are near zero carbon. Later this year, we will publish a route map for SEAP that will set out the steps that we will take to achieve those ambitions, including the investment that we are committed to. We have also committed to establishing a publicly-owned Scottish energy company to support our efforts to reduce fuel poverty and to help to achieve our climate change targets. We expect to provide more information on that later this year. Let me take a moment to remind everyone that all of us need to work together to eradicate poverty and inequality in Scotland. We welcome more energy suppliers joining us in their efforts to tackle fuel poverty by taking forward innovative ideas and projects, and we praise volunteers in community organisations across the country who are working hard to make a real difference to people's lives. I will finish by once more thanking Christina McElvie for securing this debate and maintaining momentum and focus on addressing fuel poverty in Hamilton and throughout Scotland. In fairness to the members, I chastised for drifting into energy efficiency. I have to say that the minister also did that. When we have a tightly drawn motion, which it is, it is incumbent on members, whoever they may be, to speak to the motion. In part, I understand, minister, that you were responding to issues raised by members to my right, but you also had more in it than spoke that there was not to do with the motion. So I just say that to all members here. Read the motions carefully. Thank you. That concludes this debate, and I close this meeting.