As a trustee the Council holds and administers common good property for the benefit of the local community. Accordingly, they must make decisions for the benefit of the community. As locally elected representatives, Councillors are well placed to make these decisions in the interests of the local community.

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has responsibility for setting charge caps and otherwise sets out expectations or forecasts including for income as a guide to Scottish Water and stakeholders. Across the 2021-27 regulatory period the maximum increase to charges will be capped at CPI+2% on average for each year of the regulatory control period. Scottish Water must propose charges in its Annual Scheme of Charges that are consistent with this average annual cap and the cumulative application of this cap. It has discretion as to the precise profile of charges that it seeks to levy on customers within the regulatory control period. In line with its statutory duties, WICS considers any Charges Scheme that could be consistent with the overall cap on the amount of charges that can be levied on customers during the 2021-27 regulatory control period. The average household charge for 2022-23 remains lower than the average charge in England and Wales.

Most recently services and ferry delivery structures in other countries have been reviewed include Norway, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These examples will inform the development of ferries policy including in the consideration of relevant assessments and the decarbonisation of the Scottish Government ferry fleet.

We are fully committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2045 and transforming Scotland in to a fairer, greener and more prosperous country, that is why we have committed £2 billion in low carbon funding to invest in new measures to end Scotland’s contribution to climate change and create green jobs. Creating, supporting and monitoring green jobs through initiatives like the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray and the Green Jobs Fund will be vital in helping Scotland to secure a truly just transition to net zero, with no person or region left behind.

These statistics, published by ONS annually, relate to what may be considered a narrower definition of direct jobs in the UK low carbon and renewable energy economy, including the offshore wind sector. Work is ongoing within the Scottish Government to establish a broader measure of green jobs. ScotWind puts Scotland at the forefront of the global development of offshore wind and represents a huge step forward in our just transition to net zero. I welcome the commitments from the winning consortia to invest at least £1 billion, on average, in Scotland's supply chain for every gigawatt of capacity generated. This will generate thousands of new jobs and provide opportunities for diversification and skills transfer from existing sectors such as oil and gas.

My officials have worked closely with VoiceAbility, and continue to support them to develop comprehensive training packages for their advocates. This training will be delivered through VoiceAbility’s newly established training centre and Scottish headquarters in Glasgow.

Training provides all necessary information on Scottish benefits; the application and appeals process; and the Scottish Social Security Principles set out in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and underpinned by Social Security Scotland’s Charter. In return, VoiceAbility Learning and Development leads have supported Social Security Scotland counterparts to develop training resources for client advisors – setting out the principles of advocacy, as well as the client journey following referral to the service.

Officials will continue to monitor the service as it develops to ensure that all training packages are relevant and up to date.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05383 on 21 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

VoiceAbility has recruited 16 advocates to date and have a further 15 on reserve from the recruitment process. VoiceAbility will create up to 100 new roles in Scotland, and will continue to recruit as the demand for the service increases.

As highlighted in the response to S6W-06622 on 11 March 2022, there will be no staff permanently based at VoiceAbility’s Glasgow premises. Instead staff will be home-based in every NHS area – ensuring national coverage and reducing costs, whilst also being flexible and responsive to fluctuating demand.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There are a number of actions in place to promote Best Start Grant School Age Payment. We are promoting this payment as part of the Five Family Payments campaign. This campaign focuses on the three Best Start Grant payments, Best Start Foods and Scottish Child Payment. It includes paid-for television and radio advertising that encourages parents and carers to access the support to which they are entitled.

We are also promoting the School Age Payment through tailored and targeted social media posts, as well as news stories and press releases. This includes interviews containing School Age Payment case studies which ran on TV last year when the new school year started. Through all of this activity, we have been highlighting the deadline for applications which is the 28 February 2022.

Using information from DWP and HMRC, Social Security Scotland writes directly to families who may be eligible, inviting them to apply for School Age Payments. This proactive approach to maximising benefit uptake is a first for Social Security Scotland.

Social Security Scotland has written to all nurseries and primary schools in the country, ahead of the application deadline, to raise awareness of the payment. Through their monthly stakeholder newsletter, Social Security Scotland continually promotes the School Age Payment.

The Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce agreed its remit and Guiding Vision at its first meeting on 11 November 2020, and discussed a first draft of its co-designed pathway to a fully zero-emission bus fleet in July 2021. The ongoing COVID pandemic has made progress slower than would have been ideal, and the Taskforce is expected to publish a final version of the pathway in Summer 2022. All meeting papers and minutes of the Taskforce are published on the CPT Scotland website.

At the most recent meeting of the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, senior representatives from the manufacturing and supply chain sector confirmed that supply of zero-emission buses in the coming months and years would not be a constraining factor and confirmed an enthusiasm to rise to the challenge of decarbonisation. The Scottish Government is keen to ensure that opportunities for green skills and jobs from this work are realised to their fullest extent. The full minutes of the Taskforce meeting have been published on the CPT website.

https://www.cpt-uk.org/news/bus-decarbonisation-taskforce/ .