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You mentioned fuel poverty, as did Alan McIntosh. There are other advice services out there that provide targeted advice on fuel poverty. Is there an element of duplication? Does there need to be more training in that area? There are more increases to come in October and the most recent increase—the April increase—is still to hit us. People will start to get those bills this month.

What are your thoughts on fuel poverty advice? Is more training required among your team or in general? Is more co-ordination required between your service and energy efficiency charities that work in that area?

Thank you. That is an important message for the committee to take away. We might pick up the issue of how we deal with energy companies and how the energy companies deal with debt advice services—I will discuss that with colleagues.

I ask Matthew Irvine to come in on that question about fuel poverty, again thinking about the local aspect that I mentioned.

Thank you for that, Claire. You have referred to the first 1,001 days as being vital, and that is key.

Marion Davies, you mentioned a financial inclusion pathway. We have heard about the parental transition fund. What are your thoughts on the priorities and so on? Claire Telfer mentioned debt advice and I want to open up the discussion beyond that. How we deal with debt is vital. One aspect is prevention: people get into debt, but how do we prevent that in the first place? That is incredibly important.

I will ask you first, Marion, about the financial inclusion pathway and the parental transition fund. I would also ask the panel to talk or think about the debt points that Claire Telfer brought up.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am—at least for the next two weeks—a serving councillor, and I am also the owner of a rental property in East Lothian.

Thanks. I do not know whether anyone else wants to come in, convener.

I want to ask about levels of investment. Which policies are likely to have the greatest impact on child poverty? Given that budgets are tight, where would you prioritise spending?

Those questions are for Claire Telfer, and I should say that I remember meeting Save the Children to discuss its report “‘It would be nice to just feel secure’: Parents’ priorities for the next Scottish Government Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026”, which lays out where it thinks the impacts will be felt and what the priorities should be. I know that you mention six or seven different issues in your submission, but what would you prioritise and what do you think will make the greatest impact?

Before I start, I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I am a serving councillor on East Lothian Council.

My questions are on preventative work that is possible. Part of your role is to promote local resolution and improve complaints handling across Scotland’s public bodies.

Could you say more about what effect your preventative work, including training, has had on the SPSO’s caseload? I know that the situation has been difficult in the past couple of years, so you could answer with regard to the situation before the pandemic. As we come out of the pandemic, do you see a role for that in reducing the number of complaints that come to you, because that is what we ultimately want to happen? What has happened in the past and what do you see as being the role of training in the future?

The second part of my question leads on from that. Graham Dey asked about consistency in local authorities. When you talk about training opportunities, that is about organisations coming to you. Do you monitor what training the Improvement Service or local authorities provide? If they are coming to you, they are being proactive. Is every local authority doing that? Do you monitor the improvement that they are trying to co-ordinate through training, and how does that co-ordinate with your work?

I refer members to my entry on the register of interests, as I am still a serving councillor for East Lothian Council. My question is directed to George Walker.

One of your statutory objectives, which you have touched on already, has been to protect the interests of homeless people during the pandemic. Can you say a little bit more about how you have fulfilled that objective? You mentioned that there is a bit of concern about the increased number of people staying in temporary accommodation. Can you expand on that?

The key issue that you mentioned in relation to your engagement with the 32 local authorities was that of resource, both financial and in terms of manpower. Will that be an issue in dealing with the current backlog? Is there enough resource? Will that continue to be an issue as we go into next year? It will not just be a case of flicking a switch and getting out of the pandemic; there will be a recovery period.