 Maen nhw udych chi, mae ers mewn cyflogwyr mor cyflogwyr maen nhw, a ffaith cyflogwyr ar y ddechgym fod yng Ngohol Dwellraedd Cymru a'r cymryd ar gyfer y hollid ei gynhyrchu? Y ddechrau llyfr o ein Mae'r oedd gyfanaeth gynhyrchu ar gyfer gyda'r prosiect yn ganddau, mae fydd yn dechrau ni'n cyddiadau arcofio'r ddeliadau. A llyfrgwyr ymlaen nhw'r ddaf yn cyfor i bairfyn ni'n cyfrwyng i ymwyllwyddau as drivers switched to electric vehicles? We have already invested more than £45 million to develop the publicly available Charged Police Scotland network, which now consists of over 1,900 charged points across the country. The network includes a number of public charging hubs already available in some towns and cities with more planetary outskirts. We continue to work with local authority charged point hosts to strengthen and expand the network. This year we will provide funding to enable £2 million of on-street charging projects across Scotland, specifically for those areas without access to off-street parking. There are many rural villages and market towns of my constituency where properties are hard to pavement, such as my own, and as such do not have private driveways. Currently, those properties do not qualify for the grant funding for the installation of home chargers, leaving many citizens to rely on on-street charging infrastructure should they wish to register their carbon footprint. Is the Scottish Government aware of those situations across Scotland and what considerations are being made for the many people who will be in this situation? As an MSP for a rural constituency, I am very much aware of those issues. I hope that Ms Willum will take assurance from the fact that Government officials are working with the South Ayrshire Council to support the installation of chargers that will provide for people without access to off-street charging in Straiton, Barhill, Daley and Mabel. The Scottish Government is also currently consulting on requirements for installing charge points in car parks of residential and non-residential buildings, which will further enhance access to electric vehicle charging across Scotland. South Ayrshire Council said that it would install over 100 electrical vehicle charging points, but it has cut the plan by 42 per cent. Notwithstanding the challenges of the pandemic, a £1 million fleet of electric vehicles has barely left the council car park in a year with charging being a big concern. What can the Scottish Government do to help South Ayrshire Council to expand local charging networks and make people feel more confident about using electric vehicles? As the member will understand, any actions that South Ayrshire Council has taken will be a matter for them to defend and to explain. However, to answer her point about engagement with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Government is actively engaged with local authorities in seeking to encourage that. That is our direction of travel, and we expect local authorities to join us in that. I thank the minister for his previous answer in regard to how many EV charging points are in Scotland. Can he expand on that a little bit and tell us how much that is compared to the rest of the UK? The most recent statistic shows that Scotland has over 2,500 publicly available chargers that represent 47 chargers per 100,000 population compared to 36 chargers per 100,000 population for the whole of the UK. Importantly, Scotland has the highest proportion of rapid chargers and is well ahead of the rest of the UK with 12 per 100,000 population compared to a UK average of 6.8 per 100,000 population. However, of course, there is much more to do because the uptake of electrical vehicles is showing a welcome increase. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent research that suggests that chain stores in Scotland closed at a rate of 30 per week during the first six months of 2021. Minister Tom Arthur, we understand the difficulties faced by Scotland's retail industry as a result of the global pandemic. In recognition of that, the Scottish Government has provided businesses with more than £4.3 billion in support since the start of the pandemic. We continue to support the retail sector and other businesses as we rebuild the economy following the pandemic, including through the work of the retail strategy, the town centre review and the city centre recovery task force, as well as the Scotland loves local £10 million multi-year support programme. The Centre for Cities report says that Aberdeen has the UK's fourth lowest high-speed spend and around 90 units are currently empty. RGU and Aberdeen-inspired suggest that reasons for that include the business rates and the overheads, and others point to how slowly the SNP got Covid relief out the door. Aberdeen council has a master plan, but the reinstatement of 100 per cent business rates in six months' time is casting a long shadow. So what plans does the minister have to introduce a fairer business rate system and restore a level playing field with England on the higher property rate? As the member will be aware, in Scotland we have the most generous package of rates relief anywhere in the UK. Indeed, we were the only part of the UK to give full NDR relief for hospitality, leisure, aviation and retail, and that was an investment of over £700 million. As a member will appreciate, decisions around NDR will be taken as part of the budget process, but I very much look forward to his constructive and informed contribution to that process later this year. To ask the Scottish Government if there are timescales and numbers of units for the roll-out of electric vehicle charging sites across Scotland. There is a wide range of factors that influence and ultimately determine the types, numbers and timescales for the roll-out of electric charging infrastructure. That includes technology developments in terms of vehicles, batteries and charging equipment, as well as the impact of other action support in Scottish Government's ambition to reduce the total number of privately owned cars and reduce car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030. Therefore, it is not possible to specify exact timescales and numbers. Electric charging will obviously become an increasingly essential part of our infrastructure, and I know that to charge place Scotland network is supported by the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland. Will the cost of charging be determined by Government or market conditions, and has the Government discussed what action can be taken to ensure the cost of electric charging is maintained at an affordable rate? Bill Kidd raises a critical point. If the switched electric vehicle is to work for all of our population, then people need to be able to afford to do that. Currently, tariffs are set by charge point owners to cover the cost of electricity provided, as well as maintaining and growing the network. There are other private networks operating in Scotland that charge on a commercial basis. Regardless of the source of investment, this Government is committed to delivering a charging network that works for all of Scotland, all the time. We are continuing to engage with charging providers, energy network companies and regulators to ensure that the charging network is affordable. To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement part 3 of the Transport Scotland Act 2019 to allow local authorities to bring forward proposals to directly run bus services in their area. As I outlined in my letter to all members in June, work to implement part 3 of the act resumed earlier this year following a pause necessitated by the pandemic. We are consulting currently to help to inform the development of the necessary second legislation and guidance. The consultation closes on 6 October and I would encourage all interested parties, if they are not already done so, to feed into the process. The minister will know that it is more than two years since the proposed amendment to the Transport Bill to lift that historic ban on councils directly running bus services or establishing municipal bus companies. Can he give us a timescale when he expects those powers to come into force? Councils want to get on with the job of delivering bus services to their community and will also ensure that direct funding is made available to councils to enable them to use those powers, including capital and revenue start-up costs. Let me begin by recognising the constructive way in which Colin Smyth engaged in the Transport Bill and those provisions. He is asking for a timetable. In essence, we would expect to have the findings of the consultation available to us towards the end of the year. I offer him this assurance that we will look to move on this as quickly as possible, because, like him, I see this as a real priority. In terms of funding, as he knows, we have committed to establishing the community bus fund for this purpose and others. As we see the outcome of the recommendations from the consultation, we will be able to move forward on that. I am happy to work with him on this. The original question in which Colin Smyth asked was, when will the Government implement part 3 of the Transport Act? I am not sure that we have had an answer to that. Although the minister said that the consultation will close by the end of the year, can he give an answer to the original question when he anticipates part 3 of the Transport Act being implemented? I did answer that question. For an experienced parliamentarian, I would have thought that Mr Simpson would have picked up on that. As he knows, we will need to develop the secondary legislation. There will have to be time found in the parliamentary timetable. The committee will want to scrutinise it and I would anticipate it being done as quickly as it is possible to do that. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the dualling of the A96. The Scottish Government is committed to improving the A96 and, while the current plan is to fully duwll the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, as part of the co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party, we have agreed to conduct a transparent evidence-based review of the programme, which we will report by the end of 2022. Police Scotland data shows that 195 people in the last three years in the north-east have been involved in a crash, with at least one fatality. Despite the review that is currently under way and despite the safety concerns of local communities and despite what you have just said Green MSP Maggie Chapman believes that it will not be viable to fully duwll the A96 route. Can you please say, do you agree or not agree with Green MSP Maggie Chapman? Presiding Officer, Maggie Chapman, like any other MSP in this chamber, is entitled to their view. As a minister in this Government, I am committed to the review process. The review process will determine how we take this forward. However, I want to go back to the start of that question, because if the inference was that somehow safety concerns along this route would be ignored, that is reprehensible and it is untrue. The traffic congestion experienced in Nairn by the local residents can be as bad as that experienced in Glasgow or Edinburgh, except that in Nairn there is only one road for citizens to use, namely the A96, which goes through the town. Delays of up to an hour can be experienced to get from one end of the town to the other during the tourism season. Therefore, can I ask the minister will he approve and commence the initiation of the tender process for the delivery of the preferred route agreed of the dualling of the A9 between Inverness and Old Nairn, including the name bypass? Will he accept my invitation as the constituency member to come and meet local people to hear for himself the strength of views and feelings on this matter? I am happy to commit to such a visit, although I am not in any way unaware of the strength of the views, given the many conversations that I have had with Mr Ewing, who is a strong advocate for this. I am sure that the member will very much welcome the fact that what is committed regardless to on the A96 includes the bypassing of Nairn and the dualling of Nairn. As a former minister, Mr Ewing knows that there are processes around such projects that have to be followed. That said, I give him the assurance that we will move as quickly as we can to progress this work. To ask the Scottish Government how it will support young people to find rewarding and sustainable employment. The Scottish Government is taking forward a range of actions to support young people to achieve their potential. Through our delivery of the young person's guarantee, we have invested an additional £130 million, which aims to provide at least 24,000 new enhanced opportunities for young people who need support, finding and sustaining employment. We are clear that opportunities created through the guarantee must provide fair work and we are underpinned by a package of training that supports young people's transition into employment. Developing the young workforce activity is well embedded and is being enhanced by nearly 300 DYW school co-ordinators who play a vital role in increasing opportunities for what-based learning for pupils. Recognising the importance of good-quality careers advice, former General Secretary of the Scottish Trade Union, Congress Graeme Smith, and non-executive director at Skiltsville Scotland, is leading a review of the career service. For that answer, many of the businesses in my constituency of Aberdeenshire East are SMEs, and I would like to encourage more of them to get involved and provide opportunities through the young person's guarantee. Can the minister outline what support we are giving to those businesses that are possibly too small to have training or HR departments to play their part in the scheme and unlock the potential of our young people? There is good news in that regard. Part of the young person's guarantee is that we are working closely with employers and encourage them to sign up to the five asks that are proportionate to the size of any businesses. Indeed, those who have signed up over two-thirds are SMEs. That is, I believe, testament to the willingness and commitment of SMEs to make a difference. Of course, we want to see more taking part in developing our workforce regional groups and local authority employability. Leeds can play an important role in that. Indeed, we, as members of the Scottish Parliament, can play a leadership role in encouraging local employers to. I welcome Ms Martin's commitment to that regard, and I am sure that it is shared across the chamber. The minister will be aware that yesterday the figures came out in regard to unemployment with those with disabilities, and the more people with disabilities are now unemployed than they were this time last year. The gap between England and Scotland is going wider and you are far less likely to get a job here in Scotland if you are disabled than you are down south. Why does the minister think that that is happening and what is he and his Government going to do about it? Minister? I am aware of that disappointing trend, Mr Balfour. We know that that is the first time in some while in which we have moved backwards in terms of the disability employment gap. What we will be doing is responding as he and other members would rightly expect us to do. We will be introducing Scotland's first national transitions to adulthood strategy in this term. We will be implementing the Morgan review recommendations for additional support for learning. First, that Scotland programme continues to play a role and will continue to work to our disability employment action plan, which seeks to at least half the disability employment gap over the coming two decades. The Scottish Government will provide an update on the action that it is taking to close the poverty-related attainment gap, including in response to the cut coming to universal credit. Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville Record investment of £215 million this year, including a £20 million pupil equity funding premium, is providing additional support for children and young people who need it most. That is the first investment of our £1 billion commitment to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap and to support education recovery this parliamentary term. However, tackling the poverty-related attainment gap cannot be done by education or schools alone. The Scottish Government analysis indicates that the UK Government's decision to cut universal credit could push 60,000 people in Scotland, including 20,000 children into poverty, and that is why the UK Government must reverse that harmful and senseless cut immediately. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and refer colleagues to my register of interest. Clearly, as the cabinet secretary has just said, this cannot just be about education, though I note the substantial investment in our schools. However, the best way to narrow the poverty-related attainment gap is to address poverty. When a £6 billion cut is coming forward from the Tories to cut universal credit, removing £1,000 a year from low-income families, and a £500 million replication of the Scottish welfare fund announced this morning will go no way to make up for that poverty being suffered, what impact will those cuts have on the ability of the Government to close the poverty-related attainment gap? I quite agree with Neil Gray that an announcement today of a £500 million fund does not, in any way, begin to start compensating the £6 billion cut to the universal credit. That is why we are doing what we can within the Scottish Government. I have spoken about the record funding that we have to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap, but Neil Gray is quite right. We need to also tackle the root causes of poverty, and one of the root causes is the fundamentally different way that the UK Government has a social security system that seems to punish those of our poorest in our society. Given the votes in the universal credit debate this week, I think that that is also a view shared by the Scottish Tories, which is exceptionally disappointing. We will continue to do what we can within the Scottish Government to support our people. Thank you. That concludes General Questions.