Raising questions over energy firm’s ‘broken promises’
Some good news to begin with – thanks to the Scottish Government, free bus travel will be available from the start of February to everyone aged under 22, delivering on a promise made in our election manifesto.
All that any young person has to do to access this fantastic opportunity is apply for a new or replacement National Entitlement or Young Scot card.
Children under five years old do not need a card as they already travel for free on commercial bus services, a parent or guardian must apply on behalf of five to 15 year-olds and provide approval for them to travel for free by bus and, if you are aged 16-21, you must apply for a new NEC yourself. You can apply online at the website getyournec.scot.
If you cannot apply online, there are many other ways to apply – just get in touch with the local council, or many schools are coordinating applications on behalf of their pupils and may already have contacted parents or guardians and pupils directly if this arrangement is in place.
Once the card is sorted you will just need to present your card to the driver whenever you hop on the bus.
Making bus travel free for under 22s is not only important in taking pressure off young people’s finances and improving their access to education, leisure, and work, it will also help tackle the climate emergency.
l also hope that an additional benefit will be that bus services will see increased passenger numbers, helping them to remain viable and available for the rest of us to use.
This is a real-life, practical example of your SNP Scottish
Government once again making an investment in our young people’s future, supporting them to have the best possible start in life and creating the fairer, greener Scotland that we want to build.
Unfortunately, I have to turn now from pledges delivered to promises broken.
In this instance by the management of energy company OVO.
OVO bought the retail energy arm of SSE and as a significant employer, based in Perth, I have no doubt that there will be many people in Strathearn who are OVO employees.
In recent days OVO announced a further round of redundancies – thousands across the company as a whole - and the brand’s continued presence in Perthshire is under question.
I raised my concerns with a Topical Question in the Scottish Parliament this week in which I highlighted to the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, the words of OVO chief executive and founder, Stephen Fitzpatrick, who – when OVO agreed to acquire SSE Energy Services – said, as quoted on the company’s own website: “SSE and OVO are a great fit. They share our values on sustainability and serving customers.
“They’ve built an excellent team that I’m really looking forward to working with.”
Now we see him systematically and rapidly dismantling that“excellent team”.
I can assure my constituents who work for OVO that I will do everything I can to help them in the face of these broken promises from their employer.