Seòmar agus comataidhean

If there is time in hand, I would like to.

Does Douglas Lumsden agree that it would make sense to roll out the flat-fares pilot in a rural area, as well as learning from the experience in Edinburgh?

I appreciate the point that the member makes, but does he recognise that it is important that policy is evidence based? Although we have evidence of what has been done in Lothian, we do not have evidence on how a flat-fare system might work in an urban-rural area of the type that is typical in much of Scotland.

I thank the cabinet secretary for having a debate without a motion. For some members, it has changed the tone; others, unfortunately, are back to their default tone. The launch of the fair fares review has been important, because it now allows a wider conversation to begin. It has been a priority of SNP ministers and Scottish Greens to see the fair fares review to completion.

Last week’s UK Climate Change Committee report was, of course, a wake-up call for us all. Road transport accounts for almost a quarter of Scotland’s carbon emissions, and it is a key area in which we need to make lasting systemic change. We urgently need to shift folks from cars to public transport, but people vote with their feet, and they will make that shift only if the public transport offer is accessible, affordable and reliable.

We absolutely need cheaper fares, and integrated ticketing is key to that. We already have one of the widest concessionary schemes on bus, enabling 2.5 million people to travel for free. Free bus travel is an absolute lifeline for people who face inequality. I welcome the recommitment to expand the scheme on bus for people who are seeking asylum and for people who are suffering from drug dependency. I also welcome the new pilot project to extend free travel on ScotRail for companions of people who hold a blind person’s concessionary travel card. I look forward to updates on all that work when possible.

Of course, there is much more that we can do beyond the concessionary schemes to ensure that public transport is affordable for all. I warmly welcome the flat-fare trial. Councils that span both rural and urban areas and are working hard to restore bus services with communities will be well placed to trial a flat fare as part of a package to reboot local bus services. The off-peak-all-day pilot on ScotRail will also give us evidence of how simplifying fares on the railways has worked in relation to both farebox income and passenger numbers.

The next step is to join up our fragmented public transport network. I am pleased to see a commitment to a national integrated ticketing system and an all-age national travel card and fare structure. It is so obvious that having a card or an app that joins everything up makes sense. Shetland manages to do it, and Glasgow offered it during the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—so, in time, we can surely get that approach rolled out everywhere else.

Having mentioned Shetland, I welcome the commitment to extend not just the national concessionary ferry scheme to under-22s, but to move beyond that commitment and offer free fares for under-22s on interisland ferries. That will be liberating for young people who live in our islands. I also note that the road equivalent tariff will continue, but I welcome the intention to strike a better balance that supports island residents first and foremost in the design of that scheme.

Many members have reflected on the need to fix the broken models that have left communities without decent bus services. For too long, rural bus routes have been vulnerable to the boom and bust cycle of deregulation and privatisation. In the past month alone, we have seen lifeline routes such as the C60 between Killin and Callander, which I mentioned earlier, and the X7 in the Carse of Gowrie axed. Our communities deserve better. With SPT recently deciding to push forward with franchising, the future is looking brighter. Public and community ownership can bring genuine benefits to bus services, whether in Glasgow or rural Perthshire, and now is the time to start accelerating progress.

Undoubtedly, we need radical improvements to public transport. If we are serious about making that a reality, we need to redirect some of the capital away from carbon-intensive roads and into the infrastructure that we need for sustainable transport. Instead of doubling down on new road-building projects, we need to invest in the infrastructure that will supercharge our public transport across Scotland.

Demand-management measures and road-user charging models could be used to fund public transport improvements while they also reduce our transport emissions. I ask members to imagine what the impact of the congestion charge would have been in Edinburgh had it been brought in 20 years ago after that debate, and what kind of investment we would have been able to achieve in our public transport infrastructure in the city.

Absolutely. Bus lanes are a critical example of the infrastructure that we need. Mr Rowley will recognise that, this year, the Scottish Government is under incredible pressure with its capital budgets, but that is exactly the kind of infrastructure that we need. We need more investment in Edinburgh, and if we had started that congestion charge 20 years ago, perhaps we would have been able to see much more of that investment.

It is good to see it said in the fair fares review that

“the cost of motoring relative to public transport needs to be addressed.”

Not many members have focused on that point in the debate, but work on that must continue at pace.

I am proud of what the Government has already achieved. There is free bus travel for all young people under the age of 22 across Scotland, with more than 100 million journeys to date. There is new funding and powers for local authorities to wrest back powers from private companies to franchise and run their own services, for people and not for profit. There is record investment in active travel infrastructure, transforming our towns and cities into safer and more accessible places to walk, wheel and cycle. Those measures all need to be celebrated, but of course we have to go further and faster. I hope that the fair fares review can be the springboard that we need to do just that. I look forward to working alongside the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to make that hope a reality.

Leaving the politics aside, there is some benefit to the work that is going on around heat in buildings. For example, Aberdeen Heat and Power shows exactly how we can roll out district heating schemes. Will the member reflect that the Government is doing some really good work on heat in buildings, which was recognised by the UK Climate Change Committee in its report last week? I hope that he can get on board with that and celebrate the success in his region.

I warmly thank Audrey Nicoll for bringing to the chamber what is now a regular debate on the success of the Scottish renewables sector.

The growth of the renewables sector is truly remarkable. We are now living through a revolution that would have been unimaginable 30 years ago, and we are still on the very edge of what was thought to be achievable 20 years ago. Despite what Mr Burnett has just outlined to members, that has been done largely with public consent. Public support for onshore wind power remains strong in this country and, of course, developers need to work closely with communities to ensure that that public consent continues.

The analysis from the Fraser of Allander Institute paints a strong picture of progress. However, for me, there is no better way to take the temperature of the renewables sector than at the annual Scottish Renewables green energy awards. I have been going to that gathering for many years, and it felt very different last year. There was a level of confidence that I had not seen before. Some incredible innovation was certainly celebrated, but it was also great to see so many young professionals and young people joining the industry—especially women, who are really driving the change and innovation in the sector.

That confidence is reflected in the recent Scottish Renewables supply chain survey, which showed that 89 per cent of companies now think that renewable energy is the largest economic opportunity for Scotland. Ninety-four per cent of those companies in the supply chain have invested in upskilling, and 83 per cent have recently recruited new employees. It is important that the supply chain is grown here in Scotland as much as possible. The STUC “Mind the Gap” report, which is out today, points to the critical importance of a green industrial strategy to guide that growth and to crowd in investment. I agree with Sarah Boyack that there is a strong role for the public sector in delivering that mission.

I also agree with Maurice Golden that there are exciting opportunities in the supply chain. The repowering of wind farms does not mean having a wind farm on every hill. We can repower some of the existing wind farms—we can even repower Mr Burnett’s wind farm, if he wants, and make it generate many hundred times more capacity than it currently provides to the grid.

There are exciting opportunities for repowering, which we will talk about later at the cross-party group. I say to Maurice Golden that I do not know whether that would require an amendment to the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, but a sector-wide approach could really deliver the benefits here.

The growth of onshore and offshore wind will be critical to drive the continued electrification of our society, from heating to transport and beyond. I am sure that the minister who will be responding to the debate is well aware of the criticality of renewable electricity generation in decarbonising the heat in our buildings.

There are vulnerabilities, and Sarah Boyack pointed to one of them. We are seeing a real surge in consent applications right now, and that is not being matched by the capacity in the energy consents unit. I understand that 25 per cent of posts in the consents unit are currently vacant and that there are delays with work programmes, such as streamlining the consenting process. I am well aware of the financial pressures that the Government is under and, of course, we have a national shortage of planners, so it is difficult to fix the issue overnight. However, I urge the Government to look with some urgency at how we fix the consenting delays. That does not mean short-cutting processes or ignoring communities, but it does mean ensuring that consent delays are brought down.

Last week’s Climate Change Committee report was a huge wake-up call, but the good news coming out of that report is that Scottish renewable electricity generation is on track, which will bring a huge benefit for the future. There is a fresh wave of confidence in the Scottish renewables sector right now, and we should be doubling down on that success. However, it is important that the Government plays its role in facilitating that growth, especially through speedy decision making when it comes to projects that involve communities, and that processes are robust, get the job done and get us to the 2030 target of doubling onshore wind capacity.

Could that be done through the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill?

Josh Doble, do you see a mismatch between the capacity of common grazing committees and the abilities of communities to organise, compared to larger landowners, which might include environmental non-governmental organisations in some cases?

Lydia Cole, do you want to come in?