Having listened to the evidence from experts this morning, we know that we need to act fast and decisively because carbon emissions are a massive issue around the globe. We will have major shifts in world climate; we are already seeing extreme weather, such as forest fires, which we have not talked about today but which could impact on peatland emissions; and we have 280,000 homes that are already at risk of flooding. We need more joined-up thinking and action; resilience and adaptation need to go together.

Another thing that we have not really talked about is how we will get the economic benefits of this in our communities across Scotland. We are still waiting for the energy strategy. We need a more detailed climate change plan and the investment that will transform our constituents’ lives and create the jobs, including local jobs, as well as the manufacturing and heat networks that could deliver lower bills, but we are not seeing the detail of that. We have talked about tree planting, for example. Where could we get more community benefits from tree planting?

There are lots of opportunities here. However, it is not about warm words; there must be a plan for action. We have climate and nature crises, and the Scottish Government needs to do more to bring people with us to make the transformation that we need, because it is sustainable development that will tackle what will be real challenges—the Gulf stream, for example, although we did not talk about that today. We might not be here in 30 years’ time, but the next generation will be, and it will be more than a challenge—there will be massive problems. This is a time for action, detail, information and bringing people with us, and the Scottish Government needs to do way more than it is doing at the moment.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I voted yes, but my app is displaying the message:

“The item is ready to be voted on.”

I want to check that my vote has been counted.

I welcome today’s debate, because there is huge interest across the chamber in improving our rail services right across Scotland, including in the Lothians. Communities such as Winchburgh have been promised a station for years. I thank Lawrence Fitzpatrick, the leader of West Lothian Council, for his persistence in pushing for that station. Without a station, it is harder for people to get to work, which leads to more delays and congestion on our roads—and that is not good enough.

Claire Baker’s points about overcrowding also urgently need to be addressed. Christine Grahame mentioned the Borders railway. Way more people are using it than was anticipated, and we need the trains to be big enough. Trains from East Lothian and Fife are now regularly at capacity, and passengers can be left standing. On some key routes, there are not even enough bike spaces, so addressing capacity is key.

As we have discussed, the abolition of peak rail fares is a huge opportunity for Scotland, because it makes rail travel more affordable and has the potential to encourage people out of their cars. However, it was a long time coming; it was the result of cross-party pressure and work by trade unions. If there is to be a real shift, we need the capacity on our trains so that people can use them.

We also need to have railway stations that enable people to get access to our trains. When I was transport minister in the first session of the Parliament, I was proud to approve the Airdrie to Bathgate, Larkhall to Milngavie and Stirling to Alloa lines. It is good to see that it is 20 years since the Airdrie to Bathgate line was opened. [Interruption.] Sorry, it is 15 years. In December, we will be able to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the Larkhall to Milngavie line. There is something about the benefits of that work.

Mark Ruskell’s point about strategic planning is absolutely critical, because we need to take a national approach to supporting our regions—one that benefits passengers, our economy and our environment. It was therefore good to hear about the north-east. I would like to have heard a bit more about Inverness, because the northern routes urgently need access to passenger and freight connectivity. Before the summer, we were lobbied by the freight sector about the need to link freight routes to ferry connections in the south-west of Scotland. There is therefore a lot of work to be done.

We need to go further and make sure that stations are properly connected, with access to local buses, safe cycling routes and walking access. A key issue is accessibility—step-free access, lifts and ramps. We need to make sure that our railways are accessible for everybody.

The debate’s title refers to a strong platform, but platforms do not sell tickets. Several colleagues have talked about ticket offices. Although many of us use the ScotRail app, Audit Scotland has highlighted the fact that around one in 10 people do not have internet access and that around one in six lack foundational digital skills. If we are to get a sustained level of modal shift, we need to make sure that accessibility is built in. For example, Waverley station relocated its ticket office this summer, making it less accessible for a lot of passengers who need to get tickets in person and who also need in-person assistance. In her summing up, I would like to hear from the cabinet secretary about the companion travel scheme. I have been working with Sight Scotland and the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland, which are pushing for passengers to get the support that they need when they need it, so that everybody can travel on our trains.

We also need to make sure that passengers and railway staff are safe. The points that were made by Katy Clark and Richard Leonard about women passengers were very powerful. It is shocking, too, that 70 per cent of RMT’s ScotRail members had experienced violence at work in the past year, with 80 per cent of those staff being lone workers. Again, I hope that the cabinet secretary will outline what action can be taken to make people safe on our trains.

We need to build a railway that people feel is safe, is accessible and is worth the fare that they pay, and that it deliberately links our economy and our climate ambitions. It needs to be fit for purpose and resilient to extreme weather. Passengers deserve better.

I will focus briefly on the fact that UK rail reforms will be a massive benefit. There are explicitly no plans to diminish the powers of Scottish ministers. As has been discussed, we need joint working between the UK and Scottish Governments. Particularly in Scotland, we need more trains, because, every day, 250 fewer run than was the case pre-pandemic. We need more trains—accessible and affordable trains that everybody can access across the country. If we do that, we will build passenger confidence, build our economy and support our environment. Let us work together to get that done.

One of the committee’s key recommendations was that a robust whistleblowing policy should be put in place for staff. It is one thing to have a sponsorship team engaging, but it is critical that that team can hear from staff who feel able to report matters without fear of losing their jobs.

I ask the cabinet secretary to focus on the issue of creating green jobs in the area of green hydrogen, in which there is huge economic interest. Green hydrogen could be used in supply chains, in heavy goods vehicles, on our railways and in industry, and it could also be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel for future use by aeroplanes.

I thank the members of the Public Audit Committee for their work, and the clerks to the committee for their support.

This is a damning committee report. There is clear evidence from the Auditor General for Scotland that WICS and the Scottish Government consistently failed to lead by example in ensuring value for money due to significant weaknesses in governance, financial management arrangements and accountability. There was spending on overseas training courses costing more than £70,000 and Christmas gift vouchers bought without proper approval, and a culture that tolerated excessive hospitality and poor accountability. That matters to all of us, because Scottish Water is a publicly owned utility that people across Scotland depend on every single day. We should be able to take clean, affordable water for granted. It is vital that lessons are learned from today’s debate, that the Scottish Government is held to account for the failures and that the culture in WICS fundamentally changes. It is also important that other public bodies are made aware of the issues so that the failures are not repeated.

The areas that the committee investigated and the work of the Auditor General for Scotland are wide ranging. There was poor governance in WICS’s expenditure approval and weakness in its financial control. There is also the role of the Scottish Government’s sponsorship team, the role of the board and the departure of the former chief executive. This is about accountability and value for money. WICS is the organisation tasked with holding Scottish Water to account—what an irony. Its job is vital in that regard. WICS is there to determine the lowest reasonable cost that Scottish Water will have to incur to meet ministers’ environmental, quality and service objectives for the industry. WICS’s decisions must be consistent with the guidelines that are set by ministers in their principles of charging. The repeated failures that the committee has highlighted and that Audit Scotland identified need to be addressed urgently.

In a powerful opening speech, Richard Leonard highlighted the extreme examples of governance and financial issues. The Auditor General noted that WICS fell far short of what is expected of a public body. It is deeply concerning that the committee and the Auditor General also highlighted Scottish Government failures to hold the commission to account in decisions that involved expenditure that did not meet standards of value for money and accountability. Taxpayers’ money was being spent in ways that did not meet the Scottish Government’s guidance. We have had numerous debates during recent months about the Government wasting taxpayers’ money. Those huge failures must be addressed urgently.

We should be proud of the fact that we have a publicly owned water company in Scotland. WICS is meant to be the economic regulator for the industry and to promote the interests of Scotland’s water and sewerage customers. We should be using our time today to talk about Scottish Water, because it is key to producing high-quality clean water for our constituents across Scotland. However, affordable bills have gone up by inflation-busting increases of almost 10 per cent this year after 8.8 per cent last year and there have been large bonuses for senior staff who already have big salaries. There are concerns about the widening gaps between the wages of workers who do the daily work that keeps our infrastructure working and those on the top salaries. I was concerned to hear from Unison members about the fact that they are seeing privatisation by stealth and an increase in private contracts and tenders. We need support for concerned staff across the public sector who want to be whistleblowers. That was emphasised in the committee’s report.

We should also be talking about sewage. Research that was carried out by Surfers Against Sewage highlighted the need for more reliable data and monitoring of sewage outflows and the need for increased action on extreme weather events causing heavy rainfall and water shortages. As was discussed at First Minister’s question time today, we now have water shortages that are impacting on our constituents, farming and business communities.

That all means that WICS has to work properly by holding Scottish Water to account through value for money in the bills that we all pay. It means that WICS needs to deliver value for money and be accountable. The committee’s report highlights significant repeated failures by WICS and the Scottish Government. The lessons need to be learned, not just by WICS but across the public sector. How did this happen? The committee’s recommendations need to be implemented urgently and consistently across the public sector.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests regarding my former employment.

I will focus today on missed opportunities and on how the SNP is letting down people in my area. As ever, we heard blame today, even though our new Labour Government allocated this Government an extra £5.2 billion in Barnett consequentials. That is real money that should be making a real difference to people’s lives, but it is not being delivered where it is needed because of SNP waste.

We have pushed SNP ministers so hard to focus on the day job. We saw that with the Edinburgh eye pavilion when, after huge public pressure, they were forced into a U-turn, and we saw it again with peak fares when, once more, the Government had to U-turn after pressure by Labour members. [Interruption.] Colleagues should remember those debates—they are in the Official Report.

Our constituents deserve better than government by U-turn. They deserve government by delivery, whether that is in the NHS, where 900,000 people face massive waiting times, or in my constituency, where young people are massively impacted by the lack of access to CAMHS services and by the failure to deliver on educational attainment that was cited by Pam Duncan-Glancy.

Mark Griffin’s response to today’s statement on housing was spot on. Although we welcome more investment, it is too little, too late. We are still in a housing emergency and there is a lack of affordable, accessible housing. It is unacceptable that more than 9,000 children will still be in unsuitable accommodation. I thought that it was really significant that the cabinet secretary did not directly answer Ben Macpherson’s question about Edinburgh’s housing emergency. Our constituents desperately need to see more support for our councils, housing associations and housing co-operatives so that they can build the affordable, accessible housing that we desperately need.

Yes, but we did not get the targets or the accountability.

For years, there has been a lack of building, which means that people are leaving the city and going to East Lothian, Midlothian or West Lothian because they simply cannot afford housing in the city. That lack of affordable housing means that rents have been rocketing and are simply unaffordable. We need urgent action, but we did not get the detailed financial commitments that we needed to hear today, and that is deeply disappointing.

I want to focus on the climate emergency. The climate targets were dumped because the SNP had not done the heavy lifting to meet them. The climate emergency is not abstract. It is impacting on people’s lives now. Flooding is disrupting rail services and damaging people’s homes and communities. Last week, a damning report from Audit Scotland warned that the Scottish Government is failing to allocate the investment that is needed to make our communities safe from flooding. Over the past decade, costs have trebled. Local authorities now need clarity and certainty on funding, because the risk of flooding is increasing due to extreme weather. Coastal communities are vulnerable, as are homes on flood plains and beside rivers. There are 280,000 homes in Scotland that are currently at risk.

There is also the growing risk of wildfires. It is horrific to see what is happening across Europe—in Greece, Spain and Portugal—but we are also seeing wildfires here in Scotland. This summer, a fire burned for several days in Uphall in West Lothian. Last month, we had a serious fire in Holyrood park that lasted for days. It is thought that the fire was the result of human activity, and we need to raise awareness of risk, but awareness alone is not enough. People also need to know that their emergency services will be there for them when disaster strikes.

That is why we need the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to be properly resourced to deal with the new risks of fires and flooding. Rural and urban communities need more community capacity, not cuts, because the time that it takes for firefighters to arrive can make the difference between life and death. It makes no sense to close Marionville fire station, which is just over a mile from this Parliament and is in an area where there are 3,500 new homes. There are also major developments at Leith port, and Marionville is the station that is responsible for tackling fires in Holyrood park. Closing Marionville would leave families and businesses more exposed to risk. It makes no sense to close that station. It is another example of SNP Government cuts not delivering the services that our constituents urgently need.

We need a Government that is focused on delivery, not one that wastes its money through bad decision making. The failed national care service wasted millions but did not create a single job, and there has been a lack of jobs being created on ferries and buses and in renewables. If we are to see a fair transition, we need good-quality jobs in Scotland now. There was such an irony in John Swinney saying that his Government does not have the powers that it needs, given the massive missed opportunities for our renewables with ScotWind—the opportunities to create more jobs in our communities and the opportunities for community, co-operative or municipally owned heat and power companies.

We need to see the recommendations of the Just Transition Commission being acted on. We need action in the north-east and action on our ports and harbours. The SNP promised to create 130,000 green jobs, but that has not happened. It has not created a publicly owned energy system, but we can see GB Energy getting on with the job. We need investment in community energy projects. We cannot afford another SNP Government of excuses and U-turns. We need a Government of delivery, which will come only with a Scottish Labour Government.

We know that urban and rural communities across Scotland are at risk from extreme weather and the impact of the climate emergency, with homes and businesses now at risk. What is the Scottish Government’s plan to deliver the sustainable jobs that we need locally, both to increase our resilience and to reduce emissions? I give the example of the manufacturing of renewables and again ask: when will we see the energy strategy and the just transition plan to give the certainty that developers and supply-chain businesses urgently need in order to deliver that sustainable, low-carbon economy?

I thank the minister for notice of his statement.

Environmental groups such as WWF say that progress has stalled; the evidence of this Government’s net zero efforts is lacking; and the bold climate targets that the SNP pledged to deliver have all but disappeared. We are seeing those failures again today, but there is no acknowledgement of the need to do way more, and to learn from the failures to deliver the action that this Parliament supported.

What are we going to get for the transformational change that we need? If are to address transport emissions, we will need to do more than dump peak rail fares, however much we campaigned for that. We also need to accelerate electrification; increase the use of rail freight; have buses that people can use their bus passes on; and, indeed, have buses that are built in Scotland by Scottish workers, and which are not imported from China.

Also, should we not be doing more to use our fantastic natural resources to remove, and not emit, carbon? When will we see the right trees in the right places, and the investment to support our peatlands at the scale that is needed?

Finally, will the minister outline specific new actions that the Scottish Government will deliver to ensure that the next set of statistics shows that we are on track to deliver the net zero change that we urgently need?