 Ond y gael ddifatul yn dweud, yn ei ddweud, a yn mynd yn cyffredig i'r ddelweddegyn, o amser 2948, ond ddydd yn bach i gondol yn gynch o yoffy rhaglion. Pwyllteb digon iawn yn gofyn o'i ddiddordebent hefyd, ddim gynch o'r ddiddor yn gallu ddif profitable a aethai amddio'n gwyll嵐 i'r ddiddorol i'i ddifydd, a'i wrthysgu i'r ddiddorsig iddo i'n mynd i amddio'r ddiddor rysyn nhw dwy'n gwych等 i Caertham ni â g techniwys i chi i gweithretaeth g coconut mae i gтаeth picnodol o bobl i chi, ac oes weithio i boblai mewn i fath y cyflus치wn? Felly maelio y cychwyn yn digwydd a'i gan amdano chi am ddadflol g生活aidd yn fath scoring o pho pres cymdeitiynau wahanol. Mae priforogau acer am y Ming Hearm taraff hyn, mae fel amlifodaeth, het taler fel awdynny, i dig wants 17 trustydd diirwm i gair gyll suicide, newidiad mewn rener does iapunaethogenau eu lle gweld, maen nhw'n gwybod llyfr i nodi Caerdydd gwahanol. Fy enw, yn ymweld dwydwyr i Gweithiwn, relwy Daerfyniaeth Gweithio, a'r Gwymlwyr Gweithio i Gwymlu i Gwymlu i Gwymlu i Lorท. Mae'r gweithio'n gwneud i'r ffordd stori gyd niwodol wedi'i gwasanaeth ymddirudd, gweithio'i listau a'r listau yn ddiwethaeth o cael 80 oes. Gweithio'i listau a'r listau i gŷ, i gael a'u listau i gŷ i gyd. It is important that we acknowledge and respect the work of those pioneers that made it possible. The North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board was formed with the Hydroelectric Development Act in 1943, delivering electricity to the highlands for the first time. Scores of hydro dams and power stations were built right across the highlands and tapped into its uniquely positioned but challenging terrain. Of it was no easy feat, and with workers at St Philan's and my constituency, it was set in a world record for a tunneling record yn 1955, yn cyfgareddig i ddweud ffwrdd 557 pwy o rôl yn ysgrifennu. Bydd yn ysgrifennu, ysgrifennu, Ysgrifennu could boast 56 dams, yn cyfrifesio ar y rôl ffordd 600 km, yn adnodwch acwydwch ac pwydwyr. Rwy'n meddwl i'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud. Even when, in 1998, the private company of Scottish and Southern Energy was formed and headquartered in my constituency. SSC was the result of the merger of two former public sector electricity supply authorities, the Hydro providing the Scottish part of the title, with a southern from a former Southern electricity board, which distributed electricity in Southern England. A distribution-only authority with no power generation capacity of his own. Efectively, Scotland was producing huge amounts of hydroelectric from Persia and Scotland across the whole of the United Kingdom. SSE was rapidly established as one of the big six in the energy supply in the UK market, employing almost 11,500 people across the country. Many of those jobs in their HQ were in my constituency, which they now plan to close. In September 2019, SSE announced that it would be selling its retail business to OVO Energy, and the transaction was completed in January 2020, and 8,000 staff were transferred to OVO. Stephen Fitzpatrick, chief executive and founder of OVO, declared that there is a lot of work to do to bring the two businesses together. However, we have a strong combination of great talent, technology and customer centricity that will enable us to succeed. Alasdair Philip Davis, chief executive of SSE added, We are very pleased to have completed this transaction, which we firmly believe is the best outcome for the business, its customers and its employees. The Daily Record reported a spokesperson who said at the time, We have a detailed integration plan that leaders from both companies have collaborated on since September and will share what we can when we can. In the meantime, individuals and teams will continue to work as nothing will change for the time being. That last phrase should have rung the warning bell, because OVO backtracked on this only four months later, and hundreds were laid off in May 2020. Less than two years later on, we have been told that hundreds more workers are set to lose their jobs as OVO Energy's Perth office, where around 700 people are employed, is going to be closed as the acts a quarter of their UK workforce. Was Alasdair Davis Philip, the CEO of SSE, fulling himself or us, when he said that he firmly believed that the £500 million deal was the best outcome for the business, its customers and its employees? Macaulay Pete Wisher MP for Perth and North Persiaw was assured during a meeting with SSE and OVO when the takeover was announced that there would be no job losses. Time and time again, both companies, SSE and OVO, gave repeated assurances to staff across the country that no redundancies would happen. Jobs were safe, customer service was a priority and that this talented committed workforce were at the heart of that quality service delivery. Both companies have utterly betrayed that workforce. When the redundancies are announced, Stephen Fitzpatrick said, there is never an easy time to announce redundancies and this is a particularly difficult decision to take. But, like all businesses, we face a new reality and need to adapt quickly to enable us to better serve our customers and invest in a zero-carbon future to better serve our customers. I will come back to that in a minute. He also stated that we are seeing a rapid increase in the numbers of customers using digital channels to engage with us and our experience once customers start to engage differently, they do not go back. In my opinion, that was the most telling sentence of them all. All the market analysis at the time of the takeover talked about digital capabilities of OVO. Digital capability means that there is less need for people when you force customers to deal with an app rather than a human. My guess is that redundancies were always the aim. Should we be surprised? Probably not. Not only are they letting the workforce down, I would suggest that they are also letting their customers down. Stephen Fitzpatrick clearly sees automation as the way forward, but we all know from experience that sometimes we just want to speak to a well-trained, well-informed human being who can help us with our issue—whatever that issue may be—and it is that resource, that human quality, that ability to be able to talk to someone who can actually help that is being lost. When taking over, Mr Fitzpatrick praised the excellent team he was inherent in, I would say that he should use them. Perth would be the ideal situation for OVO's new training academy. Along with John Swinney and Pete Wishart, I am due to meet OVO management again soon, and I am once again calling on Stephen Fitzpatrick to attend himself as the owner of the business. His assurances were at the heart of the PR around this takeover, and he should give direct answers to his employees as to why he can no longer stand by those assurances. His automation of service, where will that leave the digitally excluded? Will they, most likely the less well-off in our society, be forced into higher-priced tariffs as a result of that digital exclusion? Are the older generation to be left behind, because they are the ones that I have had most contact from? I do not know how to do all this app stuff, son. What will I do if I cannot pay them about? Will they cut me off? That is the sort of question that we are being asked. This company is causing anxieties to its employees, its staff, and they all deserve answers. When we meet Mr Fitzpatrick and his management team, I will be pressing him to rethink the decision and maintain or, in fact, improve the quality of the service that they currently have. The best way to achieve that is to keep the dedicated, skilled workforce, who have done so well to serve my community and the community across the country for decades, and to make sure that they keep their jobs. I now call Murdo Fraser to be followed by Alec Rowley for around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I start by congratulating Jim Fairlie on securing this debate and commending on his motion, which I was pleased to support. Like him, I have taken a close interest in the issue of the closure of the OVO Energy Office in Perth and the impact it will have on the wider economy. We believe that currently OVO employs around 700 people in Perth, and the loss of those jobs will be a huge blow to local families and the wider perthshire economy. OVO Energy has said that 1,700 employees across the UK are set to lose their jobs through voluntary redundancy, up to a third of its total workforce. The number of offices will reduce across the UK from 10 to 3, with the only one being left in Scotland to be located in Glasgow, meaning that the closure of offices is not just in Perth, but in Edinburgh, Cumbernauld and Dunfermlyn. For those who are unable or unwilling to relocate, there is real uncertainty about the situation. OVO has said that they are seeking to make those job losses through voluntary redundancy, but we do not yet know whether those job cuts could become compulsory if insufficient volunteers come forward. When my colleague Liz Smith and I recently met Adrian Leth, the CEO of OVO Energy, we made this point forcibly to him. Unfortunately, no reassurance was received. Mr Fairlie gave us a history lesson. He and I have something in common, because my father worked on a hydro dam, the glass-carnock dam in the highlands. It is worth, as Mr Fairlie did, setting his latest development in a bit of historical context. I am old enough to remember back in the 1990s, when the newly privatised Scottish hydroelectric company moved its headquarters from the west end of Edinburgh to Perth. That was a major economic boost for the city and for the local economy, with the creation of more secure, better-paid, management-level jobs. Over the years, Scottish Hydro was a success story, expanding to take over southern electricity and becoming SSE as it is today, but with its headquarters still firmly in Perth and with an ever-expanding workforce, it is a vital part of the local economy. Two years ago, SSE took the decision that it was going to dispose of its retail arm, which it did to OVO Energy. It is important to stress, however, that SSE remains headquarters in Perth and committed to the city. Although it is no longer involved in the retail sale of energy, it is heavily invested in the electricity generation, particularly in the field of renewables and also in the electricity transmission. Those jobs are not affected by the latest announcements, and we hope that they will be with us in Perth for many years to come. When OVO Energy acquired SSE's retail arm at that time, as Jim Friendly said, it said that it was committed to a presence in Perth. It is deeply disappointing that, two years later, that promise has been broken, causing the uncertainty that we see today for the staff, many of whom have been loyal to both SSE and OVO over a long period. I do not know whether it is realistic to expect OVO to revisit their decision to close the Perth office, but, from my dealings with them, I think that it is unlikely. What we need to do is make sure that we avoid compulsory redundancies for those who do not wish to take a voluntary package. I have urged OVO to explore the possibility of individuals living in Perthshire being able to work from home, rather than having to relocate to an office in Glasgow, and they have pledged that as something that they will look at. That would at least provide some comfort and protection for those who do not wish to take voluntary redundancy at this time. In the longer run, it is inevitable that we are going to see a decline in the number of energy retail jobs through natural wastage, and that is to be deeply regretted. I raised on the chamber some weeks ago whether the Scottish Government should now be looking at relocating more public sector jobs out of the central belt to Perth in order to support the local economy. I hope that that is a call that would be widely supported across all local representatives, as it would undoubtedly be to the benefit of the Perthshire economy and help to replace those jobs that we are currently seeing lost. I would just close, Deputy Presiding Officer, by putting on record again my disappointment with the actions of OVO. I hope that we can see a brighter future for the staff, currently very worried by the impact of those cuts. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Fraser. I now call Alec Riley to be followed by Mark Ruskell. Mr Riley joins us remotely for around four minutes. Mr Riley. Presiding Officer, I want to join Jim Fairlie in expressing my sense of anger and sheer disappointment in OVO Energy Ltd and their CEO, Stephen Fitzpatrick, for their false and broken promises that they have made to their workforce and to communities, including the communities of Perth and Onfirland in the region in Scotland and Fife. That there is real anger in those communities would be an understatement, but people keep asking what can we do. I would say that there are many things that we as a parliament and both the UK and Scottish Governments can do when companies lie to their workforce and to their clients and to the communities in which they operate. The United Trade Union is calling on MPs to order Fitzpatrick back to Parliament to explain what seems like misinformation that the CEO gave MPs when he last appeared before them. The union says that OVO Energy must open the books and explain why £40 million in loans and payments have been made to other companies owned by Stephen Fitzpatrick before it makes 2,000 staff redundant. Their General Secretary, Sharon Graham, said, and I quote, unites research shows that there are a lot of questions that need to answer them about OVO's accounts. At the very least, there should not be a penny more of taxpayers' money than on OVO until they have provided answers. In the last five years, United estimates that the top directors of OVO took £4.6 million out of the company in salaries and benefits. Not named in the accounts, but the best-paid director likely to be Stephen Fitzpatrick earned almost half of that figure. So they want to take people's jobs away. We have the right, as does the unions, to demand that they open up their books to scrutiny and both Governments must do all they can to make this happen. I also want to put on record the words of United National Officer for Energy, Diamond Coop, who said, and I quote, that we warned the directors about blundering into the SSE takeover. In recent years, the same directors have blundered the accounts for all amounts estimated to be touching £5 million, so the company must be subject to scrutiny. There are serious questions to be asked and answered about and by this company, but we must also ask what happened to the public energy company that voters in Scotland were promised. More than anything, I think that the seat of this company will encourage much greater public support for public control and public ownership of energy. As the STUC General Secretary, Rose Foy, said, workers were promised the Saudi Arabia off renewables, but all they got was a desert. Now, energy costs are spiralling out of control, workers in communities across Scotland are getting a raw deal, and the time to take control of energy is now. In conclusion, this company must think twice and must not move towards compulsory redundancies, but the bigger message in Scotland is that the people of Scotland, through the Government of Scotland, must take control of energy in Scotland. Thank you very much, Mr Rowley. I now call on Mark Ruskell, who will be followed by Audrey Nicholl. Mr Ruskell joins us remotely as well again for around four minutes, Mr Ruskell. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank Jim Fairlie for securing today's very timely members' debate? Of course, we've heard already that, in its recent round of job losses over energy announced, it will be axing 1,700 jobs across its UK operations. That's a quarter of the entire company's workforce, lozing seven out of 10 offices with an estimated 700 staff at risk in Perth alone, and with a quarter of those staff earmarked for OVO's voluntary redundancy scheme. These are the numbers, but behind the numbers are real people and families, people with ties to communities, children growing up at school, friends and neighbours, families that support and care for each other in the community. Jim Fairlie has already spelled out the roots in the energy business, run very deep in Perth, all the way back to SSE, to the hydroboard, and they're built on the lives of generations of real people. They should not just be seen as mere numbers on a spreadsheet to be redeployed at will across the UK. Now, after several meetings with the chief executive at OVO and contact with the unions, I, like many members, remain deeply concerned about the lack of clarity on next steps for redeployment and retraining offered to staff, as well as whether compulsory redundancies could still be considered after the voluntary redundancy process concludes. OVO once again has left its staff in the dark without clarity on the next steps for redeployment and training, putting them under real pressure to make serious decisions about the future of their careers and their families in just a matter of days. The deadline for voluntary redundancy applications closed in a record time of around a fortnight. Without a clear lack of meaningful support for its workers, it is no wonder that OVO did not receive the required number of voluntary redundancies in all areas of its business through that initial troll. Despite OVO's newfound confidence about reaching the target of voluntary redundancies following another extension, OVO still refused to rule out compulsory redundancies when I met Adrian Letts just yesterday. And this lack of transparency instills fear that the impact of job losses and office closures already announced may only be the tip of the iceberg. Hard-working staff at OVO deserve much better than this. They deserve much better than being levered and coerced into making life-changing decisions in a just a matter of days. Of course, this is not the first time that OVO broken promises to staff and also contributing the governance by a work agenda. This is just the latest in a series of repeated broken promises from OVO to their hard-working staff. Let's remember, as other members have reflected, that this is the same company that promised job security when taking over in January 2020, only to lay off thousands of workers at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. So, we cannot allow companies like OVO to repeatedly disregard basic fair work principles. It's high time that OVO took this seriously. And I'd like to ask the minister again to consider what sanctions can be applied to companies that undermine and break those principles. And I agree with Alex Rowley. You know, not a penny more of taxpayers' money needs to go to these companies if they're going to be breaking fair work principles. We need to see transparency with a commitment to no compulsory redundancies and a longer application period for voluntary redundancies matched with a clear package of support for those looking to retrain and upskill in other areas of the company. Instead, OVO's response so far has left its workforce in a catch-22 situation of having to choose between applying for voluntary redundancies, despite any interest in upskilling, or face the risk of compulsory redundancy. The minister driving the key did promise to me several weeks ago to consider how the Tay cities deal could provide further support for those affected by OVO in the way that workers were supported after Michelin closed its doors in Dundee. So, I'd also like the minister to report back on what those options may still be in closing. Presiding Officer, if OVO does care about its employees and its reputation at all, it must now work hard to change the course of its actions of the real meaningful support to its workforce and work with them to evolve the business to meet customer needs. I thank Jim Fairlie for bringing this very important motion forward today. Having spent much of my childhood growing up in Stanley just north of Perth, I still feel a strong connection to the city and the wider area. This must be an extremely worrying time for OVO's workforce across Scotland and I would like to express my deep disappointment for everyone affected. We know that for every single job loss many others are affected, our families, communities, businesses and of course the supply chain. In Perth and in Firmland these jobs were and are invaluable to the local economy. As we also know, the plans for redundancy were explicitly denied by the company when it took over SSE's retail arm in January 2020, at which time it stated and I quote, nothing will change. Despite the promises, four months later the company offered voluntary redundancy to 2,500 employees and 18 months later we get this. The original promises now forgotten as these damaging plans to close offices across Scotland have come to light. It is extremely disappointing that OVO's chief executive officer Stephen Fitzpatrick was unwilling to respond to questions from my colleagues about his plans, reflecting a clear lack of compassion on his part for the workers who made the company so successful in the first place. This decision comes at the worst possible time as we try to recover from the perfect storm of the pandemic, Brexit and poor management of the economy by the UK Government. I commend the work of my colleagues in Fife and Perthshire for the work that they have done to press the company on its plans and seek assurances on the future of the workforce. In this regard it may offer a ray of light to look at Dundee where not so long ago a similar issue emerged where Michelin closed its doors after half a century costing over 500 jobs in the city. In Dundee the SNP administration worked collaboratively with Michelin working together to develop a proposal that has come to fruition and works now under way to transition the site to become a new innovation park employing around 100 highly skilled staff. I would be delighted if a similar creative approach could be considered in advance of the second meeting planned with OVO over the coming weeks. At this point I feel it's important to note that events like this make it clear why Scotland should have more powers over corporate governance and employment law. It's an unfortunate fact that decisions like this are indicative of a UK economy where takeovers, major restructurings and sadly redundancies are regrettably becoming too common, an economy where companies can make promises, break them and nothing much is done to hold them to account. The result, some of the lowest average wages and lowest GBDP per capita of any comparable nation in north west Europe. We work long hours, we have some of the lowest levels of job protection, poor sick pay and low pensions, all the while productivity remains modest at best. Those facts provide clear evidence to me of why we need full economic powers to sit north of the border. I know Jim Fairlie and other colleagues will do all they can to support all OVO staff impacted by this announcement and I will do all I can to support them in their efforts. I now call Graham Simpson, who is the final speaker in the open debate for around four minutes, Mr Simpson. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I also thank and congratulate Jim Fairlie for bringing this debate to the chamber. It's really important for those of us who represent areas affected by these closures, as I do as a regional representative, because Cumbernauld is in central region that I represent and that's one of the offices that could close. I have spoken to OVO staff in Cumbernauld and I have to say that they were taking something of a risk when they spoke to me because what they told me was that they'd been contacted by the company and told not to breathe a word to anyone in rather threatening tones. I think that that is an appalling way to deal with people. Those people were speaking to me on the basis that I would not reveal who they were and of course I won't, but that should never ever be the case. That leaves a sour taste in my mouth. We've heard already a bit of the history of OVO and SSC and how we came to be where we are. I have no real confidence that people who are being told that there will be no compulsory redundancies. I just don't believe that. I think that what tends to happen is that when companies create closed offices and create hubs, people go whether they want to go or not. If you consider that Cumbernauld is the nearest office to that so-called super hub in Glasgow and you might say that it's the most convenient, it's not convenient for everyone. It's not everyone can get into wherever that hub is. Some people, people I've spoken to who work part-time, they just don't suit. They'll spend more time travelling than they'll be at work sometimes, so it just doesn't work. Jim Fairlie mentioned rightly the move to digital contact centres. I've got experience of that because I switched when the company that provided my electricity and gas at home closed down, I was switched to another provider, not OVO, but I'm on a tariff, which means that I cannot speak to anyone, so if I want to find anything out, it's impossible. I cannot pick up the phone. You have to go through an app or you have to go through a website. It's utterly ludicrous. I consider myself someone able to deal with most things, but what I actually want to do is speak to somebody, and I think of the elderly customers who are perhaps not as tech savvy as I am, they will not be able to do that. I'm grateful to the Sims for giving way, just to say to him I recently had the unfortunate experience of having to phone OVO energy as a customer and I think I waited 40 minutes before the phone was answered. It is an extremely inconvenient experience for anyone to have to have on for that length of time. Murdo Fraser is right. That's utterly unacceptable. I'll close, Deputy Presiding Officer, with a quote that I've come across from a spokesman for OVO who said, Scotland is a great place for our business, which is why we're making it an operational centre of excellence. One of our three office locations we're opening a new OVO academy in Glasgow. While we're closing some other offices, there's an opportunity for remote working. We're committed to investing in Scotland, creating higher-skilled, better-paid jobs in Scotland. If only I could believe that, but I don't believe it, and I think OVO should be thinking again. I'm grateful for the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Government, and I would like to begin by commending Jim Faley for bringing this important debate to the chamber this afternoon. Indeed, today's debate highlights an issue that is, of course, of great importance to many in the chamber, but it is of even greater importance to OVO's employees in Perth, Cumbernauld, Dunfermline and Edinburgh. Along with my ministerial colleagues, I was very disappointed to learn of OVO's announcement in January that it plans to close sites in Perth, Cumbernauld, Dunfermline and Edinburgh, and to seek 1700 voluntary redundancies across the UK. The news will have come as a great blow to the workers at the affected sites and their local areas. Jim Faley has rightly pointed out that, when OVO acquired the retail business from SSE, the company was very vocal in praising the quality of the team that it had inherited. It is therefore disappointing that the workforce has been reduced first by the voluntary redundancies announced in 2020 and by the company once again this year asking for voluntary redundancies in numbers. I know that this is a subject of constituency interest to a number of members besides Jim Faley, as we have heard today. He has also included the Deputy First Minister and the Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training, Jamie Hepburn. I understand that interested members have had their own meetings with OVO last month and will continue to do so, and indeed have been frustrated by the lack of clarity that the company has shown. My colleague the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee, spoke with Adrian Letts, CEO of OVO Retail, on 19 January, when he questioned him about OVO's rationale around that decision. He also challenged the company on its choice to open a new site in Glasgow instead of utilising existing properties. OVO, however, was clear in its response that it saw the establishment of the Glasgow office as the best choice for the company. Mr McKee also wrote to the company seeking clarity on the numbers involved and the potential impact across sites in Scotland. Mr McKee spoke to the company again yesterday to seek clarity about its intentions for the workforce and to gain an understanding of the likely numbers involved. He spoke yesterday with representatives of trade unions at the company. He has written again to OVO for details on some of the points raised by the unions and updated local representatives. Unfortunately, as is the case with other companies, we cannot force OVO to reverse the decisions that it is making, but we can work to ensure that the outcomes for those affected are as favourable as possible. Our priority, as always, in situations such as this, is the workforce at the affected sites. We have acted quickly to ensure that our partnership action for continuing employment, PACE initiative, is engaged with OVO. PACE met with OVO on 20 January and outlined the support that could be offered to help any affected employees. That includes access to PACE information, resources and webinars, distribution of external employment opportunities and utilisation of the PACE callback process. That is, in addition to OVO's own offering to the workforce, which I understand includes an external redeployment team and a choice between one-to-one career transition support via an external out-placement provider or £500 towards the cost of learning. PACE will continue to work closely with OVO going forward to ensure that any affected employees are offered the best possible support. I want to, at this point, turn to a few of the remarks that colleagues have made across the chamber during this debate. Along with Jim Fairlie, Murdo Fraser eloquently noted the history of energy generation in his region and the important part that it plays in the community. He also noted, as was highlighted by Graham Simpson, options around home working. I think that there were points that were well made and timely. Alex Rowley proposed the question, what can we do? That was echoed by Mark Ruskell. I want to assure the chamber that the Scottish Government is absolutely committed for Scotland being a world-leading fair work nation by 2025. Of course, through the growth deals, to the cities region deal and the Glasgow city regions deal, we are providing support for those economies that will be impacted more generally. OVO's announcement has thrown into relief the issues affecting consumers and suppliers in recent months. We know that the wholesale energy price increases that we have seen in recent months have had significant impacts on consumers and energy suppliers alike. The setting of energy costs is reserved to the UK Government and, even in light of its announcement of support, we have challenged the UK Government to go further to support consumers. We have also remained in close contact with Ofgem and the energy industry. We remained committed to ensuring a just transition as we seek to deliver on our ambitious climate change targets. That includes ensuring that people have access to good green jobs in new and growing sectors such as renewable energy. For example, as has been set out in the Butehouse agreement, we will scale up public investment to meet our heat decarbonisation targets and to secure a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. We will invest at least £1.8 billion over this parliamentary session, allowing us to accelerate energy efficiency upgrades and renewable heating deployment in creating new jobs and supply chain opportunities across Scotland. Our vision for Scotland is to create a wellbeing economy, a society that is thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions and that delivers sustainable and inclusive growth for Scotland's people and places. We will shortly be delivering a new 10-year national strategy for economic transformation, which will outline how we will deliver a green economic recovery and support new, good green jobs, businesses and industries for the future. In addition to extensive stakeholder engagement, the strategy has been shaped by a new advisory council, including representatives from industry, trade unions and academia. Transformation of Change is a national endeavour, and we have reached out to businesses, workers and stakeholders from across the country. We have also run a nine-week consultation that has received an excess of 260 responses. I would like to reaffirm that this Government is doing everything that we can to support those affected and that we are working to put in place the foundations for our future economic recovery and one that is sustainable and inclusive. To conclude, we know Oval's proposals to introduce a new net zero adviser role, and we would welcome the opportunity to understand its ambition for the academy and vision for zero carbon advisers. We have set an ambitious pathway to decarbonise homes across our economy, and we already have good experience and advice provision through our national fuel poverty programmes and publicly funded services such as Home Energy Scotland. That makes Scotland an attractive place to anchor the growth of net zero adviser capability in the private sector. I encourage Oval to engage with the Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government to explore ways in which Scotland and its workforce can benefit from that. I once again thank Mr Fairlie for bringing this debate to the chamber. Thank you very much indeed minister. That concludes the debate and I close this meeting of Parliament.