Speeches by McAllister.

“That is from all of us.”

“The new debt relief scheme sounds as if it is going to add more to energy bills.”

“You do not recognise that figure.”

“You do not have that figure. There is some suggestion that it is maybe £60 a year.”

“At the moment, what is that cost per year to customers who do not have debts?”

“What about customers who do not have that debt?”

“Do average customers across the UK currently pay a sum on their bills that goes towards debt recovery costs?”

“Thank you very much. I understand that you are designing a new debt relief scheme to take effect this year across the UK. Can you explain to the Committee what the structure of that will be and how it will be administered?”

“If it is something that you can take away and look at, we would greatly appreciate that. Is that perhaps something that you could provide to this Committee in writing in the future?”

“Scottish colleges are struggling to cope with huge cuts to staff and funding, including West College Scotland in my constituency. The Scottish National party has cut funding by 20% in five years. What can the Minister do, working with other Departments such as Defence, to ensure that Scottish colleges become engines of…”

“That is very interesting. Thank you very much, Mhari.”

“What message do you have for them this morning, then, if they are watching this?”

“How satisfied have you been with their response since? Are the companies you mentioned—Vodafone, TalkTalk, Sky—taking steps now to build that resilience and comply with the guidance?”

“Have you had communication with them about that?”

“Is there now?”

“When you and other islanders took out the contracts originally, were you aware that those providers were failing to follow the network guidance you spoke about?”

“I take it that that was not widely known at the time. Is it widely known now which providers do and which do not?”

“Without internet?”

“My questions are also to Shetland’s outspoken resident, as you described yourself. Can I turn to the damage that was caused in 2025? As I understand it, there were two incidents—one, I think, in July and one in October. The first was likely to have been caused by fishing boat damage, and the second perhaps by rough sea…”

“Can I ask if your own internet service provider had that alternative cable route? Did you experience that?”