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That is fine.

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to any local authorities that are struggling to meet the rising costs associated with providing school transport, so that children and young people can travel to school in a safe, efficient and affordable manner. (S6O-03238)

Notwithstanding the funding that the cabinet secretary has mentioned, and without giving away our exact ages, the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is older than me and the cabinet secretary and many people believe that the act’s minimum home-to-school provisions are no longer fit for purpose.

Changing legislation takes time, but my young Lanarkshire constituents and their families need action right now. I am pleased that Jim Fairlie, who has ministerial responsibility for buses, has agreed to meet locally with me and some of those families. Many children now face difficult walks of up to six miles a day between home and school, which is not fair on those children, so we need to find solutions. Will the cabinet secretary agree to take part in those talks?

Absolutely. We have demonstrated that on the record in the Parliament, just now.

I think that we all agree that the bill is necessary: we need legislation. In 2022, Keep Scotland Beautiful declared a litter emergency in Scotland. That there is an emergency is undeniable. Despite years of campaigning, with people doing litter picks and trying their best to recycle, we still have a massive problem with litter. That is a symptom of a much wider issue and of our reliance on a linear economic model, in which we continually extract new resources to make new things and new products, then throw them away before starting all over again. We have to break that cycle.

There have been serious impacts here in Scotland and around the world. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has data to show that, between 2018 and 2022, around 100 tonnes of plastic packaging waste was shipped from Scotland overseas every single month. That is a real scandal.

The question is what the bill can do to tackle that. Other members have expressed concern that there is too much focus on the recycling part of the waste hierarchy. I believe that the minister will take that in the spirit in which it is intended. We need to look at other aspects of the waste hierarchy.

We have heard that there is a lot of passion for reuse and repair. The example that I will touch on today—people who know me know that I talk about this a lot—is reusable nappies. We need to make it easier for people who want to do the right thing environmentally but are worried about cost and other barriers. In the spirit of that collaborative approach, the minister and I are doing a fact-finding visit next week to North Ayrshire Council. Since 2019, it has been leading the way not only in Scotland, but in the UK. Third sector partners are involved with the local authority. The approach was brought in by my Labour colleague Councillor Joe Cullinane and has been continued by a Scottish National Party Administration. It is the kind of thing that can help all our constituents and it is cost neutral for the local authority. I am considering lodging amendments at stage 2 to see how we can do that with our local authorities—not by telling them what to do but by enabling them and giving them the confidence to work in that way.

Another big issue in the bill is food: we need to do much more to reduce food waste. We have the scandal of ever-increasing food poverty and food insecurity while we are also seeing food waste increasing.

As a member of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, I am pleased to be speaking in the debate. I associate myself with the remarks of the committee’s convener, Edward Mountain. Other committees have been involved, and I record my thanks to our clerks, the Scottish Parliament information centre’s team and the many witnesses who informed our evidence. We had 10 evidence sessions and we made 80 recommendations.

Although we are having a robust debate about the bill today, there is a lot of passion and a lot of agreement. We need to become a more circular Scotland—no one disputes that—so we need to harness that passion.

We have been hearing from people in our communities and the local authorities in our areas about how we can make things better. Sarah Boyack, my Labour colleague, is absolutely correct to say that stage 2 will be crucial. I believe that the minister’s door is open for work with colleagues and people across the country; we all have to co-operate.

I hope that Ben Macpherson finds someone to repair his iron by the end of the debate. I did a wee Google search and have sent him a link to a business in Edinburgh that might be able to help. It is a matter of knowing where to go—

We absolutely need industry to play its part, but we know that that does not happen voluntarily, so we need legislation.

Colleagues have mentioned France; we know that California is also a really good example of where, through legislation, there are now requirements on households and businesses to separate green waste and food waste, to donate edible waste to food recovery groups and to recycle the rest. More can be done at stage 2 on that.

Time is short. Others, including Bob Doris, have talked about the international impact of what we are doing. We got really good evidence from the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund. I will not repeat its points because it has provided a good briefing.

We know that there is a big issue with clothing and textiles, and with food waste being exported. As Ben Macpherson said, there are economic benefits, but this is also about the social imperative. We know that where the environment is exploited, people are often exploited, too. Fashion Revolution Scotland influenced me heavily. It came together because of the disaster in Rana Plaza that killed thousands of garment workers. People are working in the most awful exploitative conditions and are losing their lives and their health so that people like us in the global north can buy cheap clothes that we might wear only once then throw away.

We can do a lot through lodging amendments to the bill and through the strategy. However, as others have said, we need co-operation and collaboration, and we need certainty around funding, which means costed plans. I hope that we can, if we put all those things together, work towards a more circular Scotland.

That is helpful. You have given lots of examples. Communication to the public that CCTV is monitored in real time is important.

Do you have any up-to-date views on women and girls having experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment? Is that getting worse or better, or is it staying the same? Do you recognise that visible staffing must be part of the solution?

I think that Mark Ruskell wants to come in on this theme, too. I want to pick up on another point about staffing. I understand that around two thirds of ScotRail stations are unstaffed—that is higher than the UK average of around 45 per cent—and that over half the Scottish network is operated via driver-only operation. Although there is always a second person rostered on services, there is no guarantee that a second person will be on board all services. There are currently proposals by ScotRail to extend driver-only operation to the Barrhead and East Kilbride lines—I am not sure about other areas. There appears to be a bit of a difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK on that. Can you speak about that? Do you have a view on it?

Is that an area for improvement?

I think that we would appreciate more information. It is a live issue. I am not entirely sure of the business case. There is a commitment on rostering but no guarantee of the second person on board. I am not sure how often there will not be a second person. I will leave it there for now, convener.