 I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the campus. The first item of business is general questions. Question 1, Murdo Fraser. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the level of ambulance cover across Mid Scotland and Fife. Cabinet Secretary, Humza Yousaf. Fife from today until month end is an average of 92.4. In addition to that, we have additional resources planned and added, as required, for example, two additional shifts in Fife tomorrow and similar across the weekend. That will be further supplemented with overtime as uptake will continue to grow throughout the month. Cover recently is 94.2 and across Fife specifically it is over 92.6. We have supported, through £20 million of investment, the service and recruiting an additional 296 front-line staff. Across Fife, that will equate to an additional 442 double crewed ambulance hours every single week. Nationally, the Scottish Ambulance Service, of course, as we all know, is experiencing extraordinary demand and the NHS under a significant challenge as a result. Despite the pressure that coronavirus has brought upon our ambulance service, which served some of the most rural areas in the UK in 2020-21, crews responded to over 70 per cent of highest priority calls in under 10 minutes and more than 99 per cent in under 30 minutes. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Constituents for raising concerns with me about the level of ambulance cover, particularly in rural areas, even before the Covid pandemic. It is clear that the situation is now much more serious, despite the efforts of all ambulance staff. This morning's newspaper headlines make grim reader reading with people now dying as a result of ambulance delays. This has become a national crisis. When will the cabinet secretary get a grip on this issue before more lives are needlessly lost? Cabinet secretary, I agree with Murdo Fraser on the scale of not just the challenge, but he is right to say that the newspapers are not just today, but I know that there have been a number of cases that members have raised for grim reading. He will not get a defence from me on some of those unacceptable waiting times. The Ambulance Service, of course, too, is very much aware of that. What I want to try to give Murdo Fraser assurance of is that nobody is sitting on their hands. That is why we have invested that additional £20 million. Ambulance staff, including paramedics and technicians, have been recruited, including in the north and in the east region. More will come on board during the winter months. What I plan to do with Parliament's approval is to come forward on Tuesday with a further parliamentary statement, giving out some of the detail of the other actions that we are looking to bring forward to help Ambulance Service in remote and rural areas, but right across the country as well. I am happy to, of course, if there are specific instances or cases that members have that they would like me to look at as Cabinet Secretary for Health, of course any member can send me the details of those cases. The staff morale is at rock bottom just now. They are feeling the enormous pressure. That investment, to be frank, comes far too late, because Murdo Fraser is right. The problems were evident before the pandemic, so what I need to understand from the minister is why those decisions about investment and recruiting staff were not made years ago when they should have been. I say to Willie Rennie that I am happy to provide further detail. We have that investment from years ago. That investment started 18 months ago, so it started at the very beginning of the pandemic. He seems to be shaking his head, but I am happy to provide him with that detail. That is why we are now beginning to see that recruitment come through the pipeline, because that investment was made a while back. He is absolutely right to continue to raise the issues about morale. That is why we have the staff wellbeing club, but anything more we can do to help morale. I know that Unite the Union has raised some issues about morale, but what more can be done to help morale on the ambulance service, I am more than happy to speak to them, to take ideas from wherever they come from, but staff morale will be important and we will continue to invest in the ambulance service and hopefully on Tuesday with Parliament's approval that I can give further details of some of the other actions that we are looking to bring forward during this challenging phase. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what its position is on the proposed timetable changes set out by ScotRail in its fit for the future consultation. Presiding Officer, as Mark Ruskell points out, ScotRail is conducting a public consultation on the proposed May 22 timetable, which closes on 1 October. I would encourage everyone with an interest to make their views known. The proposed timetable would operate 100 services more than the current pandemic timetable, responding to the changed travel patterns. ScotRail are of the view that the vast majority of customers will find either no change to their current service or that their service improves with a more regular interval between services, and so more training is being provided. However, I recognise that there are some local ice concerns about that, and as I said, I would encourage the public and members to make their views known through the consultation. Mark Ruskell, I thank you for that response. ScotRail's proposed new timetable will result in some unacceptable cuts in services and extensions to journey times that will impact minister on people, particularly in Stirling, Dumblain, Perth and Cacoddy. I have been actively encouraging residents to share their views with ScotRail as part of the consultation. Later this month, I will be hosting a meeting with constituents to better understand how those changes will impact them. Does the minister agree that any significant changes in rail services must only be done after real and meaningful consultation with rail users? Does the minister agree that ScotRail should accept my invitation to meet with rail users to ensure that their voices are heard? I very much commend Mark Ruskell for the approach that he has taken to this. I encourage ScotRail to engage. I have never seen draft proposals contained in a consultation that are flawless or could not be improved upon, but I would say gently to Mark Ruskell that timetables are complex creatures. When you revisit them, it is not as simple as simply restoring or tweaking component parts. I know that he has very real concerns as he has noted about impacts on Perth and Cacoddy, for example. Invergauri and Glanegals, in his region, benefit greatly from the proposed changes on picking some of the planned alterations that could undermine those gains. I ask the minister if he plans to keep the timetable cuts when ScotRail is nationalised. As I have pointed out, this is a gain of 100 services from the present timetable. Timetables evolve. Mr Simpson knows that. The whole point of this is to gradually build back and recognise the emerging travel patterns that we will see as people's return to work arrangements become more apparent and leisure activities become more apparent. That is a baseline for which we can build and align the services with the need of the travelling public. The minister provides information on any benefits that would potentially arise from the draft proposals that are being considered under the proposed timetable changes that are set out by ScotRail and its fit for the future consultation. I have already touched on Invergauri and Glanegals's example. Dumfries would be another example of benefits for us. However, I also recognise that there are areas that I feel aggrieved about the proposals. That is why it is important that everyone engages in this consultation. Question 3, Liam Kerr. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported decline in air passengers travelling through Scottish airports. Minister Graham Day. Presiding Officer, in common with airports around the world, Scotland's airports have seen a collapsing demand throughout the pandemic. The restrictions in place on travel at home and abroad were necessary to protect public health. Before the pandemic, Scotland was better connected with the rest of the world than ever before, and we are actively seeking to recover traffic and secure new routes, while also ensuring safe travel for passengers and airports. However, in doing that, we have to attempt to do that in a way that reduces carbon emissions from the aviation sector. I thank the minister for that answer. Aberdeen Airport recently reported passenger numbers collapsing by two thirds during 2020, leading to its owner posting pretax losses of £131 million. That has had a major impact on the connectivity that the minister referenced, which the north-east, already battered by huge business rates, retail closures and poor transport links, can ill afford. Other Governments have recognised the strategic importance of aviation by putting support packages in place. Will this one? That is a problem that is affecting airports across the UK. I think that Aberdeen is faring better than some of our other domestic airports. There is considerable effort going in by the Transport Scotland aviation team working with a multitude of airlines and with airports to restore connectivity. I recognise that you have a lot of questions to get through. I will leave it at that. However, I will offer Mr Kerr the opportunity to meet and to go through some of this in detail, if he would find that useful. That work is extensive. It has primarily focused, in the short term, on reconnecting with North America—Canada, in particular—but the aviation team is working actively in other areas for wider route recovery. If Siobhan Brown has a particular interest in this, I am more than happy to meet her and talk her through the detail. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its proposals to establish a publicly-owned energy company that will generate and supply energy. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Matheson. I set out in our manifesto earlier this year and in my written response in June, we will focus Government efforts on a dedicated national public energy agency, that to the scale and nature of decarbonising 1 million homes and 50,000 non-domestic buildings by 2030. That will provide the co-ordination required to exhilarate delivery of transformative change, where almost every building in Scotland will switch to zero-carbon heating and will lead on educating the public on required changes, providing financial and non-financial support and expert advice to national and local government to deliver this unprecedented project. Dean Lockhart. We have gone from an energy company that would generate and supply energy at lower cost to a virtual agency with no additional budget, no additional staff or resource, as confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary to the Net and Zero Committee earlier this week. The Cabinet Secretary tells us that this virtual agency, which is probably a website, with no additional staff or resources, is a better answer and a better way to address the challenges of climate change and fuel poverty. Does the cabinet secretary agree with stakeholders that the failure to establish a publicly owned energy company has been a complete policy failure? The challenges that we face have changed very significantly over the course of the last couple of years and with the publication of our updated climate change plan, and the very significant statutory targets that we now face in meeting our climate change commitments. We require to decarbonise domestic heating systems and non-demestic heating systems at a very considerable rate over the course of the next eight to nine years. Key to achieving that is co-ordinating the action that will be necessary in order to do so effectively. That is exactly what a public agency will be able to do. Alongside that, we are also exploring the provision of heat as a service. We consulted on this issue earlier in the year and we are looking at how that could be delivered potentially through a public energy company. That is one of the aspects that could help to supporters in taking co-ordinated action and tackling issues such as not only climate change but also fuel poverty. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support it can provide to people undertaking managed quarantine at Scottish airports who are unable to afford the costs but not in receipt of welfare benefits. International travellers not receiving qualifying welfare benefits can contact corporate travel management, the UK Government's travel agent, to access a third payment plan. That is only available to UK residents or students who have a visa to study in the UK. A repayment plan needs to be paid back in 12-monthly installments. The Scottish Government has additional hardship measures in place beyond that of the UK Government. If a person residing in Scotland meets appropriate criteria and is unable to repay the debt, the Scottish Government will fully cover the costs of hotel quarantine and cancel the repayment plan. Emma Roddick I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer. Given the inadequacies of the universal credit application and award systems, will an expansion of existing eligibility for Scottish Government support to those not on universal credit but struggling to pay the costs be considered? I can confirm to the member that we already have an extended list. Universal credit is only one of the benefits that we take into consideration if someone is having difficulty meeting the costs with managed quarantine. If they are on benefits such as if they receive child tax credits, what tax credits, housing benefit, income support, pension credit, income-based job seekers allowance, any income-related benefit, we take that into account in considering whether we should cancel the repayment plan for them. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it will address the backlog in NHS dentistry. We are moving forward rapidly with NHS dental recovery and are supporting the sector to build back to a pre-pandemic level of activity. We have invested additional funding of £5 million to improve ventilation in dental premises and a further £7.5 million for the purchase of speed-adjusting handpieces. Those particular pieces can be used in a wide range of clinical procedures where standard non-aerosol precautions may be applied. Those measures, alongside a 50 per cent increase in the amount of free enhanced PPE available, will make it possible for NHS dental teams to see substantially more patients while operating under the current infection prevention and control measures required for safe operation of dental treatment. Can I thank the minister for her reply? I have also previously received a response saying that a record number of people are registered with an NHS dentist, but constituents are writing to me concerned that they are still unable to find an NHS dentist who they can register with, that the delays in appointments are not getting shorter, and I am aware of NHS dentists who have gone private. Is the minister not concerned about the state of affairs and what action is the Scottish Government taking to fix it? I am concerned about the state of affairs. The challenge for dentistry is the aerosol producing procedures and the infection prevention and control measures that are constraining their level of activity that they can undertake. As we emerge from the pandemic, we will expect the situation to improve. Dental practices will be able to register and see new patients. At present, because of the restrictions, it is more difficult for dental practices to see new patients. As the arrangements for dental registration is made through the local health board, then a patient who is having difficulty finding NHS dental care should contact the health board first in order to access appropriate care. If there are examples of patients being offered private care instead of NHS care, then that is completely wrong. It is completely unacceptable. NHS registered patients should not be offered private dental care if the same treatment is available on the NHS. Instances of that behaviour should be reported to the NHS board. If you have examples of that, I am happy for you to write to my office and my officials will pass that information to the relevant board.