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I am convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, which has taken harrowing evidence that people are facing unimaginable choices and that support services are already extremely stretched. You talked about the global crisis and the rest of the world, but the situation appear to be disproportionate across the UK.

Evidence to date suggest that supports that the Government has announced will not adequately alleviate the impact of the energy crisis, especially for the most vulnerable households, some of whom have already self-disconnected because of soaring costs. The risk of wholly avoidable deaths looms large this winter.

Pre-payment meter households pay more than direct debit households. What justification is there for vulnerable people paying a premium for their energy? The committee heard yesterday from Ofgem that that is needed to balance the risk to the suppliers, but what protections are in place for those households and what more should be done? Could a social tariff, which was proposed by Scottish Power in a previous meeting, play a role?

Thank you.

Thank you, convener, and good morning.

I am also the convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, and we have been taking a huge amount of evidence recently about debt and poverty. As you can imagine, that is an area that that committee is acutely focused on.

Several times, Mr Lawrence has mentioned that the current situation is unprecedented. To the people at the sharp end who we are taking evidence from, the situation feels like a return to the days when you could not afford a bag of coal, you had no heating and you had no means to cook some food.

Following on from Mark Ruskell’s questions, I will look at some data. If we think about winter 2021-22—the period that we have just come through—how difficult an increase in prices was that for consumers in Scotland to cope with? Have there been more self-disconnections? We know that there were self-disconnections already. In my local authority area, a couple of years ago we uncovered that around 300 people had self-disconnected. Will self-disconnection only increase as we go forward?

With regard to those measures, are you saying that they are going to be increased and that sanctions are going to be applied to companies that do not actively look out for those individuals and start to offer them some type of support? In the past, people have been self-disconnected for years without any support being offered. Are you assuring this committee today—and me, as the convener of another committee—that that action is forthcoming?

I have nothing to declare, convener.

I think that that highlights the fact that we do not always have that information, and it is information that we need everybody to start pulling together.

I have one further question. As is usually the case, there is not enough disaggregated gendered data, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that women are at higher risk of experiencing circumstances that are known to make households more vulnerable to fuel poverty. I am thinking about having lower incomes, heading single-parent families and having a carer status. It is important that policy makers understand what role gender might play, so that they can respond accordingly.

What gendered analysis has Ofgem, as a regulator, employed prior to lifting the price cap? How do you intend to monitor its impact on women going forward?

We move to questions from my colleague Evelyn Tweed, who will be followed by Jeremy Balfour.

Our next item of business is an evidence session as part of our inquiry into low income and debt problems. Back in November, we met a group of people experiencing problem debt. What they told us during that meeting has formed the basis of the inquiry, and we are now delving further into the issues that were raised. We thank them for sharing their experiences with the committee and we look forward to continuing to engage with them throughout this work.

I put on record my thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to the committee’s call for written views. We really appreciate the work that goes into submissions.

This morning, we will hear from two panels. First, we will take evidence from front-line advisers who work directly with people experiencing debt problems. I welcome to the meeting Alan McIntosh, an approved money adviser at Advice Talks Ltd; Charlene Kane, an Armed Services Advice Project regional support officer at the Denny and Dunipace citizens advice bureau; Matthew Irvine, a money adviser at Advice Direct Scotland; and Jim McPake, a debt adviser at North Lanarkshire Council.

I will make a few housekeeping points before we kick off. I know that, for some of you, this is the first time that you have given evidence; for others, it might not be. We have about an hour for this session. Given that you are all taking part remotely, keep an eye on the chat box on the BlueJeans screen. Do not feel that you have to answer every question, but if you have something to say that you want us to hear, please type an R in the chat box, which I will keep my eye on. Please give our broadcasting colleagues a wee second to turn your microphone on before you start to speak.

I will ask the first questions. How long have you been working as a debt adviser? What are your biggest concerns over the next 12 months? I will come to each of you in turn, in the order that I can see you on the screen. I will bring in Alan McIntosh first.

I thank all our witnesses for taking part this morning and for sharing their worked and lived experience with us.

I suspend the meeting to change panels and give members a short comfort break.