Thank you. Thanks for the kind introduction. So it's my real pleasure being here. Not only do I like traveling to Brazil a lot I think it's a great country But I think Brazil has also come a long way from a technology perspective. I just looked into some numbers yesterday on where Brazil stands and I found that there are about 300,000 startups that are being created every year in Brazil now and from an internet perspective 64% of all internet users connect from mobile and from those 64 86% actually have access to 3G networks, 2G and 3G networks So I think this is a really great time to get started with real-time communication and thinking about how to enable those users on a real-time basis with WebRTC And that's why I'm here to talk with you and to you about WebRTC and give you a status update where we are and how we got there So I'm starting off with a status update just giving you some numbers What we see of WebRTC usage in Chrome from those users who opt-in into providing this data to us in Chrome But also how the ecosystem has developed I'm Gonna do a quick one-on-one on on the WebRTC overall pictures And I think we've seen already and heard really great presentations today I also learned quite a bit about WebRTC actually and I will look into Give you an overview of features that we have developed and and launched this year And what's our roadmap basically towards end of the year and beginning of Q1 So about five years ago On June 1st 2011 my colleague Harald who works with Varun on on the get stats specification Posted to a W3C mailing list that we are open sourcing WebRTC and working on standardizing platform web APIs for for real-time communication platform So five years fast forward On June 1st 2016 we celebrated the fifth year's anniversary by updating the logo on the end of this year And what what did this five year basically? bring into launching a Toolkit basically for real-time communication An enabling users to make use of RTC in the browser So just two weeks ago on the Chrome Dev Summit It was published that there are two billion Chrome browsers across the desktop platform and also mobile Which are active every month These are monthly active users and all those are WebRTC enabled all those are WebRTC built-in and you can basically Directly enable all Chrome users by making use of the of the web API is that we have But it's not only Chrome right Since we launched WebRTC WebRTC has been adopted across Various browsers. So this is an overview Basically of which APIs are enabled by which browsers and you see there are quite a few now and not every user Obviously is a Chrome user People make use of different browsers, but many of them are WebRTC enabled Microsoft on the Edge Web Summit Provided this update on on WebRTC development status, and I'm super happy basically to see really Microsoft joining basically the bandwagon of WebRTC and I think there's actually one update to this slide that VP8 for real-time communication is now also in development in Edge So you will have basically various options from a codec perspective to connect users across different platforms There wasn't question about WebKit earlier ago. So There are some folks who have brought open WebRTC an alternative implementation of WebRTC Into WebKit just a few weeks ago and here you see a WebRTC video call between a WebKit enabled WebKit GTA GTK plus browser and Chrome So WebRTC is actually already somehow there in WebKit But if you look on the WebKit side, you see all to the official status of under development So eventually also WebKit and other browsers that build on top of WebKit. Hopefully will also be WebRTC enabled And these WebRTC browsers are being used. It's not only they all enabled You know and sitting there around on some desktops and and mobiles So what we see in Chrome that we have an aggregated usage of audio and video minutes per month of one billion Well, that is 2,000 years of audio and video communication per week What is being used only in Chrome? By various service providers But it's not only audio and video communication that we think of of WebRTC, right? It's all of the data channel that has been mentioned today and what we see on the in Chrome again For the data channel is per week is one petabyte of data transferred over the data channel And that is for various use cases, right? There are services that provide Content delivery networks CDNs and WebRTC But this is also any kind of content sharing basically for peer-to-peer. So this is massive and The end is only 0.1 percent of all Chrome traffic, but this number has been rapidly growing So just beginning of this year. This was at 0.05 percent and now basically we doubled this or Users you all and all WebRTC users have doubled this with the services provided over the data channel And it's spread across different Projects and companies that make use of WebRTC. So by launching this toolkit as open source and providing the codex Which are the which we have talked about already today and whichever dig into a little bit later on. We've really unlocked basically The previously closed ecosystem of real-time communications. So 1200 WebRTC based companies and projects that are tracked by Saribe on his on his blog And this is great because it's not just a few players that basically own all the services on users It's it's tons of projects and services that that make use of it now It's not only a phenomenon of the web So some estimations that we have done just by knowing what kind of services build of WebRTC shows that there are probably Around more or more than five billion Apps that have been downloaded which include WebRTC on iOS and Android So what are those services on mobile? We have just launched our own reference service or communication service on top of WebRTC, which is dual This August it's been used a lot actually here in Brazil But there are quite a lot of other mobile apps that make use of WebRTC It's Viber for example that makes use of part of it hangouts obviously builds on top of the WebRTC stack Facebook Messenger builds on top of WebRTC So if you want to make a voice call or video call inside of Messenger, it's WebRTC that is being shipped with it Snapchat as being managed by Sahi earlier today the video calling service in Snapchat is based on WebRTC And Slack has just some month ago launched basically all your calling In Slack and this is all the based on WebRTC These are numbers that we don't see but if you think about it the 1 billion minutes per week only in Chrome and now you basically Multiply this across all those apps. It's probably much much more usage is being made in top of WebRTC And the phenomenon is global So Brazil makes it under the top 20 But these are the Google trends for WebRTC search queries in Google and you see this has been growing continuously over the last five years And it's been spread around the world So it's China who's making basically most of the queries, which is very interesting But then also South Korea and Taiwan so this is first of all like an Asian form a phenomenon But it's also Sweden India and US. I think doesn't even make it under the top seven Well, it's nice to see that It's it's not really like the the Western tech countries who adopt this but you can see it all over the world That users and servers are investigating how to bring real-time communications to all internet users But let's dig a little bit into into WebRTC for those of you who might be new to it So this is the overall Architecture picture that we are living with in a couple years and WebRTC and I just want to quickly walk you through basically top to bottom so we have seen the the web APIs already and those were covered extensively basically today already But there are also mobile APIs which are provided by the by the mobile native libraries for iOS and And Android that we are providing those. These are either an objective C or Java bindings that you have there and below those application-level APIs you have the C++ Peer connection, which is like the main interface basically to the WebRTC library and Be those those you have you have three big components one is the voice engine as we call it Which includes all the the audio codecs and this is opus isek and and g7 11 that is enabled in WebRTC and Which is a a jitter buffer, which we call net EQ is a net equalizer So this jitter buffer basically takes care of all the the incoming packets and trying to Packet concealment if their packets lost or trying to manage basically the the variability that we see in in the delivery of the packages and Then we try to address Certain very hard to solve signal processing problems in software Well, this is echo cancellation noise suppression and gain control and this in the end basically what what helps to make Audio great and tries to fix many problems with different hardware that we see There's a video engine basically which enables WebRTC with video communication Though the codecs that are being provided are VP8 VP9 and H264 and similar to net EQ on the voice side There's basically a video jitter buffer that manages the incoming packets and outgoing the incoming packets for for video communication and the the underlying algorithms that enable a Best quality video communications and WebRTC is bandwidth estimation. So WebRTC is mainly used by in the Internet, right? It's not provide not usually or the tacos are what they are not the usual use of WebRTC So we know we are not have we are not operating on a medium with a dedicated quality of service We don't actually know what kind of bitrate and quality we have for each individual sessions You can do tests in advance But actually the next time your network quality might be completely different because the Internet and especially Wi-Fi is a shared medium So bandwidth estimation is a key component To understand and to deliver video and then obviously it's like error correction if you lose packets How do you deal with those? Can you apply even forward error correction in and providing more bits and fixing those areas that might occur? And then there's a transport component. So each communication and WebRTC is always encrypted There's never unencrypted communication as RGP and I think Stunt or an ice has been extensively covered already today here But this is basically the mechanism that we have built into WebRTC that helps you to to cross the network translation that is applied in many IP version for networks nowadays and Then we have those platform specific connectors So every operating system every hardware is having its own audio capturing and rendering video capturing rendering a network IO system basically to which we need to Adopt or connect to from a from a WebRTC software perspective So bandwidth estimation beginning of this year We had about two seconds medium ramp up time to one megabit Video that means bandwidth estimation the algorithm is algorithm use two seconds To understand what is the capacity of the network and to be able to ramp up to one megabit Which provides an almost HD stream since then we have made great changes to bandwidth estimation We switched the algorithm from a send receive site split algorithm Moved all the logic of bandwidth estimation into the send side and worked on a feedback format Which is provided from the receiver side back to the send side And this allows us to basically decrease the time of That we need for ramping up to one megabits to six hundred fifty milliseconds. So this below one second And this is for example, why do works so great and why we can do something like Knock knock with a good video quality from the very beginning because we get instantly very good video quality The codex as I mentioned in WebRTC our Own codex from the from the web end project vp8 and vp9 They're both provided with lip vpx inside of chrome They're open source and royalty free so everybody can use them and the work that has been started There is now being continued in the Alliance for Open Media Which not only All big internet players more or less have joined But also and this is very important the chips that manufacturers have joined or many chips Have joined the Alliance for Open Media and this really provides basically assurance that the next generation codec will also be hardware enabled The other codec that we committed to support is h.264 The legacy video codec basically so we make use of open h.264 here for encoding video in WebRTC and Chrome always had lip ffm pack for decoding h.264, which is also used for WebRTC But even basically beyond this and thought okay if you want to make it efficient if you want to address the capabilities of the devices We also implemented the hardware encoders on desktop where it is available. So that is on Mac OS, Chrome OS and on Windows Select as machines and if you have basically h.264 hardware encoding in there Chrome automatically makes use of it and this saves you battery This reduces the heat of the machine and and the time basically on turn the fan turns on Well, I want to give you here an idea what what is the advantage actually of VP8 versus VP9 and why we call VP9 the successor of VP8 The great the great thing is that it requires 30% less bits so I will jump out of this presentation Go in here and this is an example video that I'm starting now and the left side Shows VP8 at 800 kilobits per second there as the right side of this red line Makes use of VP9 at 650 kilobits per second and both are on HD resolution So usually if you see here, I'm sliding on the white background There's like hardly any difference looks boring is actually exciting because this is these white backgrounds It's usually where you can very good where I see when when there's a lot of compression happening in the codex And then those look very different, but also if you look basically on Arco shirt Like hardly any any difference or all to the skin color or I show you here basically to two sides of this video and there's no difference and This is actually the great thing that I want to outline here Going back Into some numbers That we have from YouTube which has enabled VP9 already in large scale so in 2015 there were 25 billion hours of YouTube video shown making use of VP9 So think about 30% less bits on such a scale that is huge for for network providers On traffic that needs to be delivered that is huge for YouTube on capacity for play out But this is also huge for content creators and connecting their users with them Excuse me Oh, this another graph provided by by YouTube and you see here Brazil is here on on number four Basically, and this is the amount of users that will be that VP9 enabled to upgrade to an SD resolution And SD is actually actually something on mobile where we say like this an acceptable video quality So over 10% of users in Brazil Where due to VP9 upgraded to an SD resolution where they had before very low resolution So now think about the potential of real-time communication, right? You provide better video quality to your video communication service even as the network capacity is not that great That might be on your on your 3g network for example on your bad Wi-Fi The VP9 is a more complex codec than VP8 Some of you may say it's difficult to run this basically in software on the devices But our tests have shown that at these rather small resolutions It's feasible so you can actually make use of VP9 also on mobile if you run at those small resolutions The audio codec has been ancient before is opus, which is our codec of choice It's also an open-source project. We continue to invest into opus massively mainly for reasons of improving quality Improving quality at the ultra low bitrate range so somewhere between 12 kilobits and below This is if you have a if you have a rather good edge connections or or a pretty bad 3g connection You should still be able to have without if you don't have huge packet loss or delay spikes You should still be able to run a voice call at those bit rates But we also try to increase the complexity so increasing and complexity Provides in general higher quality of the opus end coding and for be able to doing this we basically work a lot on performance So let's look into some of those features that we have launched this year And I'll continue to launch towards end of this year So one of the most start Features in and vibrati the this year Was media recorder there were actually over 2,500 stars It was the highest stars start back in the chromium bug tracker And what it does? It supports the recording of local and remote media streams So this is not necessarily an API that you want to make use of a neighbor real-time communications But you can basically capture your screen or capture any incoming Stream with this API You can capture it in VP 9 VP 8 or h264 and the default code like I said to opus audio So we see that this API is being picked up We don't really know what what's happening and and why people are using it and we would literally love to hear basically back What are your use cases? What are the kind of services that you from a developer's perspectives are working on to record? media on a host We worked a lot on bringing more performance to to iOS so mobile is a focus for us obviously and Performance on mobile is always critical so on iOS we worked a lot on the texture pipeline and that helped us to Decrease the power consumption by 18 percent by being able to to capture directly to textures by Reducing or removing copies of frames that we have done before and especially if you think of the of the iPhone 4 for s or 5 5 s devices This is where it becomes critical that you that these performance improvements really make your your service smooth But Android obviously has been also in the focus so app RTC mobile RTC has been mentioned before it's a free service that you can that we offer Just for trying our web RTC. There's also a mobile app, which is called app RTC mobile and by making use of capture texture for example and reducing frame and removing frame copies in the capture process We reduce the power consumption. So don't be fooled by these graphs. They look kind of equal But if you look on the on the y-axis here, you see that the scale is different Well, this is just a battery power that has been removed This is basically CPU improvements that we have done and we have also enabled offloading to the GPU and This is how how the GPU load looks after all these improvements So these are massive improvements that we have done in this deck inside of web RTC to help you from a developer's perspective To to create better services on mobile From an enterprise perspective or not only that from what mainly from an enterprise perspective Screen sharing is an important topic So what we have done is to enable Screen sharing on Android. So it captures everything that is on the main screen. It's just being launched now in m55 Which is coming out soon, but it's already used. It's used in the pixel phone That we have launched if you have issues with your pixel phone and don't know how to use it you can call a help hotline and The help hotline asks you if you want to share the screen with the back end or the hotline agent and the hotline agent is then able to annotate the screen and then provide Drawings to the user on what buttons to touch on on where to go on the screen for doing things And this is where party see enabled inside of every pixel phone if also Enhanced and improved screen sharing on the browser So in Chrome 54 We enabled tap sharing before that it was always Share your entire screen or share an application window So now in Chrome you can also just share a specific tap With with with other users being connected and I call And you can see that we have organized the screen picker UI differently It makes use of material design now as a as a UX And we have organized it differently and hopefully more intuitive so you can share your entire screen the application window Or the chrome tap and additionally you can share your system audio So we received many requests actually that users want to share also audio in in screen sharing sessions and For tap sharing this can be done across all diff all different platforms. This can be done a macOS window and and Linux Whereas the system audio sharing is not always available So we will share these slides later on with you, but there's also a URL on here where you can where you can try this out by also installing a an extension for this Where party sees also used a lot in in corporate networks and enterprise scenarios and often These corporate networks are managed and blocked or protected by firewalls And that means that UDP is limited to a often to a specific port range and not across all the All the range above 1024 usually port 1024 So what we have done we have enabled a Chrome user policy That the administrators can specify the port range for which it allows web RTC traffic and Then web RTC is forced so all UDP traffic and web RTC is forced to go through this specific port range This has been a much wanted feature From all big service providers that make use of web RTC So what's the upcoming work that we are focusing on end of this year and beginning of next year? It's making web RTC better even when When the proxies that require authentication there are still a few Bigger bucks I would say that prevent web RTC for being like having really the five nines of reliability High FPS frame per second screen sharing and what we call slim web RTC. So I want to briefly walk you through these features so Yeah, web RTC works best with direct UDP. It can fall back to TCP But in many corporate networks, there's a proxy which requires All traffic that goes in and out to be authenticated. So there are two different stacks basically in Chrome one for the HTTP signaling side and then one for for for the media side from a network perspective and Whereas proxy authentication works well since a long time for the HTTP signaling. It does not yet for any for any media traffic So what we will be working on until the end of this year together with the Chrome team is to enable basically the media side also with proxy authentication and That will enable the media traffic to path through these proxies in such a managed environment And you see that this this feature request is having over a hundred stars So in just in general if you want basically features to be prioritized in our work Starring a buck is always a good idea because then this is a feedback mechanism to us where we understand What is really wanted by the community? Improving media reliability, so there are still three main issues that we see Where where chrome and web RTC fails from time to time One feature is there is no audio from microphone coming in we actually see the microphone But we all get zeros all the time So and you need to restart chrome to make this happen or to to fix this a Similar issue is there is no webcam detected and you need to restart chrome to get the webcam back enabled and then There are from time to time glitches on the audio and video Render and capture side. So these are Fundamental problems that we have with web RTC inside of the chrome architecture It's due to how processes are being managed inside of chrome and how different process competing on threats and What this means to us is we need to switch basically the process man handling for for media in web RTC And there's a new process framework and chrome which is called mojo It's it's a simplified Process model and it addresses basically a data ownership and process sharing so we will adopt mojo for audio and video capture They will get their own processes They will not compete against other processes anymore inside of chrome So if you have very heavy and expensive java script in your application This will not block the audio or video capturing or ending anymore and video will come first Until end of this year and audio is a little bit of a bigger project And this will land basically next year then and this will be a big milestone for us because then we believe that really web RTC will become very stable inside of chrome Another feature that we are working on is high frame per second screen sharing in chrome. So the idea is to enable Users with sharing video or multimedia content sharing gaming via chrome. This is the feedback that we have received so we are adopting a new direct X feature for desktop capture it allows us to go up to 30 frames per second depending on the power of the mobile of the desktop hardware and This will bring almost real-time screen sharing into chrome Last but not least slim web RTC Is a project with which we address? The request from from many users who want to customize web RTC not always do you want to ship? all codecs with web RTC or you want to Deploy web RTC to constraint devices because you are building a camera or a speaker or a microphone Which is all network connected from an internet of things perspective? Though web RTC might be too too big basically the footprint might be too large of the binaries So we are coming up with a way of allowing you to configure the web RTC libraries on a modular basis Removing specific features and customizing it to your needs So to sum up What we are doing with web RTC the web RTC platform on the web is moving Towards a very stable state We see tons of services being built on top of it. There's a lot of usage is massive usage We ourself have at the moment an increased focus on mobile to bring up the mobile platform on an equal state from a performance perspective and We invest tons of time and efforts to make web RTC better When the when the networks are not so good, and I think this is especially something in markets like Brazil On mobile networks where we hope to make web RTC to work much better I thank you for your for your time and being here for listening to me and yeah Are there any questions that you would like to ask me?


Your cup? Yeah, my churro con cup was already dirty. Bummer. Maybe I'll have it in part two. Yeah, but at least you have your churro con shirt. Already. Are you ready babe? I'm ready. That's good. Subscribe if you haven't hit the like button. How you doing babe? Good. How are you? I'm doing very good. And today we're doing a watch along of the film, I think in 1993, I think it's the year, Dar starting churro con and juicialua. And it's one that's been requested for a long time. I have my lovely wife and me. She's a big churro con fan. Loves the churrook. Especially bearded. I don't think he's bearded in this though. Sorry. No. But he is. This one we've heard about a lot in terms of this is him playing kind of a negative role. And it's something obviously we haven't seen him in. I don't think he's done it too often. I think he's done it maybe two or three times. He probably doesn't get the girl. Who knows man. But yeah, and I also heard it's a little dated. A little problematic for the times as we have lots of those in Hollywood as well. Old films that everybody loves that are little problematic stuff that isn't cool. Never was cool, but we kind of accepted it back in the day. But who knows? I don't know what specifically he's talking about. That's just what I've heard. So just keep your eyes open and your heart open for churro con to come in. This will be in three parts probably cut up heavily on YouTube. So yeah, I can probably use five minutes or less in each part. So it's going to be heavily cut up for a three hour film. So if you'd like to see the full uncut version, we will watch it in part. So we'll probably watch one hour, one and a half hours at a time and then put them all together for Patreon. We have a baby, I'm sorry. Yeah, we have a baby. It's hard to watch a three hour film fully through because either we have to watch Lulun or we're tired. There's that as well. But just so you know that if you'd like to see the full uncut version, you can head over to Patreon. They already have it. But I hope you enjoy and I hope we enjoy the watch along as well. There's not been a churro con film that you haven't liked yet though. Yeah, all the ones that I've seen I've liked. Yeah, so I'm ready for some Shah Rukh. Here we go. Is this an Indian film? That's all good love should. It needs to be some good fear and a love. Oh yeah. What is this, Bond? Killed him with a door. This is very strong, man. I love the rolls. Yeah, the rolls really sells it for sure. Weren't they just swimming in the water? It's a hot day. There he is. There it is. It wasn't classic at this time, I don't think. Because this is like it's first? No, not first, but it's very early. Aw, she's visualizing their life together. It's not as good as their life you could have with Shah Rukh Khan, that's for sure.  They're making passionate love right now just in song. Wow, I love all of her brightly colored saris. Even a phallic-looking fruit right there. But he's eating it, so that's weird. Judy Chalwa is adorable. Yeah, she's adorable. So Khan's a freak. Yeah, that'll do it. Yeah, that's problematic for sure. How many people do this to like Shah Rukh Khan? Ooh. They didn't notice the guy crouching in the elevator behind her. Their spatial awareness is not good. Honestly, he almost has a young Johnny Depp thing going on there. Like a very like 21 Jump Street Johnny Young. I'm gonna be honest, Shah Rukh Khan kinda has a cool apartment.  She's just killing the looks in this film. Killing the looks. It's a good thing he's not watching it. Yeah. That will be the end of part one. Once again, Tron obviously the whole thing's coming. Leland is up and so. If you'd like to see the full uncut version, head over to Patreon. If not, stay tuned.


These are troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, engaged in a demonstration of their combat power. The units of Strike Command. Strike Command is the strategic army corps combined with the tactical air command.  Aid extremely mobile by army aviation support, these soldiers are among the elite of our fighting men in the United States Army. And if a brush fire war starts, anywhere in the world, these men will be called upon to put it out. This is a copy of the Constitution of the United States. Article II of this document describes not only the method of electing the president, but his powers and duties as well. It is significant that those who wrote our Constitution should list under Section II, Article II, as his very first responsibility, the president shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and of the militia of the several states when called into actual service of the United States. Every president has borne this power and duty and a number have felt the full weight of its burden. For on the Commander-in-Chief rests the great responsibility of making many vital and far-reaching decisions. Within this century alone, Woodrow Wilson as Commander-in-Chief had to decide whether or not to use the military power of the United States against the ambitions of a power-hungry aggressor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the same decision to make in his time. And President Harry S. Truman saw the world faced with Communist tyranny in Korea and took action. To enable the president as Commander-in-Chief to cope with these problems when they arise, military demonstrations of our armed strength are held for him, members of his staff, and official observers. As a former president once said in part, carry a big stick. In late 1961, 14,000 combat-ready soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division assembled at Fort Bragg, awaiting the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. The officers and soldiers were there to demonstrate to the president that they did indeed carry a big stick. For, as the president said at a news conference during early December 1961, there are countries where leaders have talked very strongly about standing firm in various areas, but do not have the military force to support that statement. We require it. The United States is the strongest power and the leader of the free world. And as such, we must have the strength to make our commitments good. The truth of the president's statement is evident. For while mankind has made great progress on many fronts, it has not made as much in the direction of a lasting peace. If anything, time has brought more ambitious opponents and more deadly weapons of destruction. Like his predecessors, President Kennedy must look to the forces at his command in weighing the problems before him. As commander-in-chief, he must make wise decisions regarding a potential aggressor. And he must be certain that we have the necessary strength to carry out those decisions. Accompanied by his advisors, by the heads of the armed services along with representatives of allied nations, he will inspect a significant segment of his fighting command. A strike unit of the United States Army, the 82nd Airborne Division. This division as part of the Strategic Army Corps is one of the many organized to preserve the security of the United States. Strike units are modern, armed with the latest weapons, able to move swiftly to any trouble spot. They are trained and equipped to fight in all types of climate and terrain. They are designed to provide sufficient forces in time to prevent a brush fire war from developing into a Holocaust. The president has stated that he places great emphasis on our ability to face each emergency with confidence, with purpose, and with speed, and with a force sufficient to meet the emergency. What do we have to meet each new and immediate challenge? One answer could be found at Fort Bragg, the home of the airborne soldier. An airborne division by its very nature is ideally suited to reinforce American or allied forces already deployed or to act as a stabilizing force in any critical area of the world. To move swiftly and fight, where needed, when needed. As a part of strike command, the airborne soldiers would be the lead elements when called upon to snuff out a brush fire war. Their nickname might well be the Fire Brigade. When the commander in chief addressed the men of the 82nd Airborne Division, he had this to say. I want to express my appreciation to the officers and men of the 82nd Airborne for this opportunity to see a group of Americans who do in peacetime what other men do in war. And that is live hazardlessly in defense of their country. It is this that makes it possible for freedom to maintain its position. So I hope that those of you who serve here during these days of a cold peace will recognize that every day that you are on duty and in a position of preparedness, you are maintaining freedom all around the globe. At the conclusion of his address, the fighting power of the 82nd Airborne was paraded before the president. President Kennedy observed more units of Strach and TAC working together as a team. TAC or the Tactical Air Command is designed to deploy our fighting forces anywhere in the world and then support them once they are there. Before an airborne assault, for example, tactical fighters strike the enemy positions on and around the drop zone area. This keeps the enemy forces pinned down during the actual paratroop drop. The troops seen here jumping from the TAC troop carriers comprise an airborne rifle company, the smallest self-contained unit capable of independent combat action. Great emphasis will always be placed on the development of new high-heeled weapons. But the fact remains that all our weapons, nuclear or not, exist primarily to help the infantry soldier perform his mission of advancing on the enemy and overcoming his will to fight. To ensure the success of the Airborne Infantryman's mission, heavy equipment such as guns, vehicles and supplies are parachuted to him from the air. All weapons, starting with those used against small numbers of enemy personnel, must be the finest we can produce. This is the .45 caliber pistol being demonstrated. The new M14 rifle shown here is replacing three separate weapons because it is lighter, more compact and faster firing. The M16 machine gun is eliminating several other weapons for the same reasons. The M79 grenade launcher is brand new and adds a solid punch to the soldier's arsenal. There are heavier weapons, such as the new rocket launchers designed to be employed against tanks and armored vehicles.  Out-controlled missiles, such as the SS-11, add pinpoint accuracy. While the flamethrower contributes great shock action, armor and artillery of many types add their punch in support of the infantry soldier. The newest M60 tank has more speed, firepower, armor and mobility than any tank previously developed by us. There is now available a whole new family of self-propelled artillery weapons capable of destroying enemy troops and installations at tremendous range. Mobility, the capacity to rain swiftly against enemy targets, has long been a decisive factor in winning battles. Today's infantry soldier is trained and equipped to conduct helicopter-borne operations in which he and his equipment are transported over all types of terrain. This is called vertical envelopment and no aggressor could feel secure knowing that his flanks and rear are vulnerable. The infantry soldier today has machine gun and rocket-firing helicopter support to clear the enemy from his area of advance. The Army's tactical missiles provide long-range power for combat. Some, like little John, are lightweight, highly mobile and air-transportable. Some, like honest John, provide mass destruction of ground targets. While others, like the hawk, are certain death to low-flying aircraft, the Pershing, like many other missiles, can deliver nuclear as well as conventional-type warheads. They have all been designed to extend the range of even our most powerful cannon artillery into the enemy's backyard. In the demonstrations which followed, the President had an opportunity to observe how the Army participates in still other types of warfare. Located at Fort Bragg in the Army's Special Warfare Center, where men are trained in psychological operations in guerrilla warfare and encounter insurgency operations. Psychological operations constitute a weapon as great as any we have to undermine the enemy and to bring new hope to our friends in oppressed countries. The students at the school are from many different countries, but they all share with us an uncompromising love of freedom. The mission of this group, called Special Forces, is to organize and direct friendly foreign forces in the fight against subversive and insurrectionist activities. The special knowledge and skills acquired by these men are many and varied. Their mission is not to fight the enemy directly, but to train friendly foreign nationals in the skills of warfare so that these people may defend their country against an aggressor takeover. Rangers become experts in many different ways. In ranger training, selected officers and enlisted men are taught the techniques of hand-to-hand combat to develop the aggressiveness needed to close with an enemy and overcome him. The training of a ranger is realistic and hazardous. His missions include long-range patrols and surprise raids, mostly within enemy territory. He learns mountaineering techniques because he is expected to move quickly and surely day or night across any terrain. As his name implies, the ranger has great flexibility. He can be called out to perform tasks ranging from the destruction of an enemy strong point to the rescue of a comrade injured behind enemy lines. He may have to perform these missions in areas of ice or snow, in jungles or swamp lands, so he acquires superior tactical know-how and self-discipline. But most important, he develops an unshakable faith in himself and in his ability to surmount all obstacles. A soldier's ability to move is of vital importance and the army is constantly providing equipment to move troops and cargo under all conditions and in all environments. One of the newer links in the mobility chain is the amphibious Lark 5. Constructed of aluminum, the Lark 5 is designed to move troops and equipment for short distances over land and water. The Lark 15 is a heavier model with greater range and capabilities. Descended from the famous ducks of World War II, the Lark is a versatile over-the-beach carrier. This armored personnel carrier is the first in which aluminum is used for armor. The rolling liquid transporter being towed offers a simple means of carrying and delivering fuel where needed. The Husky, as this new amphibious cargo carrier has been nicknamed, is designed for cross-country mobility over surfaces usually described as impassable. This man wears equipment called the Flying Belt. This unusual hydrogen-powered device is an experimental one-man rocket with great implications for the future. It will enable soldiers to fly over hills, buildings, and other obstacles that impede their progress. The Commander-in-Chief had an opportunity to meet and talk with the men of that day's immediate ready force. An immediate ready force, or IRF, is a reinforced company of a STRAC Airborne Division which is always on a 24-hour alert. Its personnel, weapons, and equipment are ready to leave on any mission, anywhere, within 60 minutes after receiving the word go. Such an order can only come from one man, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. The President's responsibilities today are grave. Like many presidents before him, he must make decisions based upon fact. The demonstration of the soldiers of Fort Bragg, their modern equipment, and their ability to use it is certainly one indication that the United States does possess a big stick. In our country today, and in many foreign countries, we maintain fighting forces that are the vanguard of our freedom, our security, and our future. The soldiers of the 82nd Airborne are a part of this vanguard, a vital part, for they represent a unit of the Army's strategic forces, strike, skilled, tough, ready around the clock to go anywhere and fight.


Os oedd ond y cwmaint o'r cwnghwm sydd aethau'r hollwyrwyr. Y rhai cannot o bobl sydd, mae o'r cwmaint o bobl o'r hollwyrwyr yn modd yn gobl i ddimentu'r ffordd o gwyllwyr ond mae'n ddau'n eu等一下r o'r cymddi, ac y gwyllwyr o'r cymddi wych. Yn cwmaint o bobl o'r hollwyr, rydyn ni'n gyfweld i ddechameld drwng. Rhywbeth yr archwmwyllt yng ngylet steel, y bydd ganddraen gyhoedd呼yn y bydd yn gyntafolordeid, ar gyfer hwyl Cficol arermaen, i gyd ymnyddiaeth ymwiel Cynllun session! Fylau'r iawn am gyd yn cyfrifol ar gyfer hwyl Cficol, yn cyfrifol wedi rhannu bwysig i gyd ac i gyd yn cyfrifol ar gyd yn cyfrifol. Fylau'r iawn am gyd yn cyfrifol ar gyd yn cyfrifol, yn cyfrifol ar gyfer hwyl Cficol ar gyd yn cyfrifol, ac mae'r iawn o gwzol yn cyfrifol ar gyd yn cyfrifol ar gyd yn cyfrifol. Those calls included consideration of the latest data, international travel vaccination programmes, testing and self-isolation, and the impact on public services. Funding to support additional interventions was also discussed. The First Minister confirmed last week that we will publish a revised strategic framework in the next few weeks that seeks to be more sustainable, less restrictive and more proportionate as we continue to live with Covid and manage any future variants. Jackie Dunbar. There has been much speculation that the UK Government is going to unilaterally end the free provision of LFDs. Given our recovery from Covid requires us to keep the virus under control, does the Deputy First Minister agree that decisions on the continued need for LFDs must be made on a four-nation basis and not by the UK Government in isolation? I think that a four-nations approach on this question would be essential. Lateral flow tests form a very significant part of our approach in managing the pandemic and also those of the rest of the United Kingdom. The availability of these free tests has been an integral part of the way in which we have managed the pandemic. I certainly would want to see any question about the future steps that are taken on LFDs to be taken on a four-nations basis. Murdo Fraser. In recent weeks, we have seen a divergence in the approach to restrictions taken across the four different parts of the United Kingdom, but there is very little divergence in terms of case rates. Indeed, there have been circumstances in the past few days where the case rates in Scotland have actually been higher than the case rates south of the border where there have been fewer restrictions. Given that we are likely to see more variants of Covid coming in the months ahead, how will the Scottish Government reflect on this experience in deciding whether to impose additional restrictions as we go forward? As Mr Fraser will be aware, we look at a range of data to inform our judgments about the appropriateness of any restrictions that are applied. Ministers have to be satisfied that those restrictions are proportionate in relation to the evidence before us. I would counsel Mr Fraser against jumping to the assumptions that underpin his question, because what also has to be factored in is the fact that variants can affect different parts of the United Kingdom at different times. For example, the developments in London preceded developments here in Scotland and have no doubt taken their course and completed their course earlier than they are taking their course in Scotland. Fundamentally, the Scottish Government must take the appropriate decisions that we judge to be essential to protect public health in Scotland. To ask the Scottish Government to provide an update on its handling of freedom of information requests against the 20 working days statutory deadline. The Scottish Government routinely publishes FY performance statistics on a monthly basis, and in November 2021, the most recent month for which data is available, we answered 90 per cent of FY requests within 20 working days. The equivalent figure for 2021 up to and including November was 85 per cent. The Scottish Government response time has recovered significantly since the initial impact of coronavirus outbreak in 2020. That has been achieved at the same time that we have handled our highest ever volume of requests. Nevertheless, we are not complacent about performances and remain committed to achieving the 95 per cent target agreed within the Scottish Information Commissioner and to maintaining performances at the level that we were doing prior to the coronavirus outbreak. Russell Findlay. The Scottish National Party Government has a track record of hostility towards FY. What justification is there for making de facto public bodies like Zero Waste Scotland funded by government and set up to carry out government policy exempt from FY? And will the minister consider widening FY to bodies such as these? We have previously used our power under section 5 of FOISA to extend coverage of the act to further entities in significant ways. Most of the recently extended coverage of FOISA to all registered social landlords and their subsidiaries in 2019. The Scottish Government will set out its broad approach soon to the future use of Scottish ministers' powers to extend FOISA. I can confirm that we will consider all areas highlighted in response to our 2019 consultation on the future use of ministers' powers, including the social care sector, transport provider, NFD, PPPP, PFI projects and the work of regional hub cause. Aside from the time taken to respond to FOIs, there are issues about the substance of those responses. Although I am sure that the Scottish Government is not deliberately withholding information, there are questions raised about the quality of the responses, both to FOIs and to written parliamentary questions that suggest a lack of transparency at the heart of government. Will the minister therefore review the quality of the responses and take action to improve transparency in government? I thank the member for the question. As we have continuously reviewed and looked at how we can make those things work better, obviously, working within the constraints that we have had during coronavirus, there have been many challenges there. However, I am aware of certain situations, and I have been working towards them with officials to make sure that we can make things better. To ask the Scottish Government how its policies across government will support people living in the Cardinbeath constituency to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid recovery strategy sets out how we will recover from the pandemic by working collaboratively with our partners in local government, business and the third sector. Priorities for recovery will vary by location, and we are committed to working with communities to understand those and tailor services to support them. I recently shared the first meeting of the Covid recovery programme board with the president of COSLA. Its members include representatives from Scottish Government, local government, business and the third sector. The Cardinbeath constituency benefits from the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city deal, which aims to deliver inclusive and sustainable economic growth across the region through investment in housing, innovation, transport, skills and culture. I thank the Deputy First Minister for his answer. My science in terms of Covid recovery is that people in my Cardinbeath constituency are most focused, in fact, on the need to see the full reinstatement of health and social care services. In that regard, can the Deputy First Minister advise as to what extent the planning for this will be led nationally since, obviously, at the present time local health boards such as NHS Fife must prioritise their resources to deal with the critical Covid winter challenges that they face? This is a very important issue, and I think that the response has got to be a collaborative approach between national and local government. The Scottish Government has initiated discussions with our local authority partners to satisfy all of us that the necessary steps have been taken to strengthen the delivery of social care services, recognising the critical dependence on those services within local communities. I had a discussion along with the health secretary and the social justice secretary last week with the leadership of COSLA. I have a follow-up session later on this evening, at which we will be looking at the responses of local resilience partnerships to satisfy ourselves that all steps have been taken to strengthen social care to address the priorities that Ms Ewing highlights on behalf of her constituents in Cardinbeath. To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gives as part of its cross-government Covid-19 strategy reviews, the long-term strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Through the course of the pandemic, our strategy has changed with factors such as the vaccine take-up and vaccine waning, levels of adherence to Covid-19 rules and guidance and new variants. All can combine to produce very different outcomes requiring different responses. In the long-term, we must adapt our thinking to how we can manage the virus and become more resilient to it in the future. That will mean seeking ways that are more proportionate, sustainable and less restrictive. The Scottish Government is therefore currently working on and will publish over the next few weeks a revised strategic framework, which will set out more fully how that process of adaptation can be managed with a view to building that greater resilience. Brian Whittle I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but he will be aware that the pandemic has greatly reduced public access to physical activity and leisure activities, which have had a significant impact on people's physical and mental health, as well as increasing inequalities. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what the Scottish Government will actively do to encourage and help the restart of those activities and leisure activities and ensure that all will have access to those opportunities? I recognise unreservedly the importance of the point that Mr Whittle makes, and that such services and opportunities must be available to all communities. We are working with our local authority partners as part of the Covid recovery programme board that I referred to in my earlier answer to enable such an approach to take place and for those services to be available. However, I would put in one caveat to that point, and that is this. The First Minister made reference to that point yesterday. We have to ensure that social care services are available for all of our constituents as an absolute priority. In my answer to Ms Ewing, I indicated that we were reviewing with local resilience partnerships the effectiveness of that delivery, because I am conscious because of staff absence through Omicron that there is intense pressure on the availability of social care services. The implications of prioritising social care might be that some of the services that Mr Whittle would like to see restarted for absolutely understandable reasons might have to be restarted slightly later to enable us to prioritise social care. It is important that I am candid with Parliament about that point. However, valuable and important the point that Mr Whittle makes, which I unreservedly accept, we have to make sure that we prioritise the measures that will enable us to deliver social care effectively. I have had numerous constituents in touch about issues with their vaccination status. I know that my Labour colleagues and other MSPs across the chamber have raised that, but boosters are now adding another level of challenge. When will the Scottish Government ensure that boosters show on the app as a booster if someone has received both doses in the EU or in another part of the UK, because they are currently showing as dose one or two which makes travel to some countries impossible and constituents have not been able to get help from NHS Inform? As I have said to the Parliament before, in a programme of this scale where we are talking about in excess of 10 million vaccinations, there are bound to be difficulties for some individual cases. I would say to Sarah Boyack that the NHS Inform team is working hard to address any of those discrepancies that emerge. If members of Parliament are having difficulty resolving those issues on behalf of constituents, I would be happy to hear from members of Parliament and to make sure that they are addressed. I have had a number of representations directly from members of the public, which I have asked to be addressed and they have been addressed, so I would be very happy to address any points that members of Parliament wish to draw to my attention. 5. Beatrice Wishart To ask the Scottish Government what considerations it will give in relation to its proposals for the scheduling of government business in the chamber in order to take account of the various impacts of Covid-19 and Scotland's recovery from it. Minister George Adam Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I thank Ms Wishart for her question. Responding to the impacts of Covid-19 and managing Scotland's recovery from the pandemic is central focus of the Scottish Government. That will be reflected in our approach to the scheduling of future government business. The First Minister's weekly statement to Parliament is an example of her commitment to ensuring that Parliament is updated on all developments. 6. Beatrice Wishart I thank the Minister for that answer. 100,000 people are living with long Covid and for many it has radically altered their lives. Thousands are also self-isolating, ill and relying on others. Covid has significant impacts on those that it lives with, including children now supporting adults with daily tasks. Will the Scottish Government provide a ministerial statement on or any update on its support, whether it is financial, educational or other, for those young carers? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the member for the question and probably the best bet at this stage would be to say that that is probably an issue for your business managers to take up. In your case, that is a bit difficult, right? Sorry, but with regards to, it might be an idea for me to possibly talk to other business managers and bring up what you have brought forward here today, Ms Wishart, and we could possibly discuss it at the next bureau. I apologise if I have offended you in any shape or form. 7. Stephen Kerr The Parliamentary Portfolio Question is available months in advance, and yet we continue to see Scottish ministers answering questions on their brief in portfolio questions virtually from their homes or even from their offices. Does the minister for parliamentary business agree with me that meeting their obligations to appear in this chamber in person allows ministers to show their respect for the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people whom we have been elected to serve? I can just say that the Deputy First Minister and I are here today answering her questions as is the way it should be. However, we live in extremely difficult times and there are situations and there will be times from now and again where some members or ministers might be answering remotely, but, as a rule of thumb, we tend to agree—the member knows this, Presiding Officer, from our discussions at the bureau—that we tend to try to ensure that ministers are at least one of us who are here physically in the chamber at one point. Should there be a problem with any remote communication, then there will be someone else on site, another minister, to make sure that the question can be answered. Should someone be remote, there is still the option for us to have an answer physically in the chamber. Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government when it last met the UK Government to discuss the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and what the outcome was. Presiding Officer, there are frequent foreign nations ministers and officials' calls focusing on Covid, which take place at every level, including the participation of the First Minister. The most recent First Minister call took place on 19 December to discuss the response to the Omicron variant, and one is due to take place later on today. A separate call for health ministers took place on 6 January. We will continue to engage proactively at a four nations level to protect as effectively as possible the health of the people of Scotland and to recover from the pandemic. I thank Mr Swinney for that answer. He will no doubt be aware of the impact of the pandemic and the recovery from it covers a wide range of Government policy. Although there is much that needs to be tackled to recover from the pandemic, one of the most pressing things right now is the cost of living and, in particular, the unsustainable rise in energy costs. Has the Deputy First Minister made representations to the UK Government regarding that, and does he agree that reducing the cost of energy will be essential to recover from the cost of living crisis following the impact of the pandemic? I understand entirely the point that Mr Rowley puts to me. Scottish ministers have raised those issues with the United Kingdom Government. I imagine that we share the concerns that Mr Rowley has about the impact of rising energy prices on household incomes, coupled with the reductions in, for example, the child payments under universal credit. That has further eroded the incomes of households. The Scottish Government has taken measures by doubling the child payment to try to remedy some of those issues. However, I agree with Mr Rowley about the importance of energy costs, the necessity of addressing them and those are obviously reserved issues, which is entirely proper. The discussion is with the United Kingdom Government, and I assure him that Scottish ministers will continue to press those arguments to protect households within Scotland. To ask the Scottish Government what cross-government strategies have been identified as part of its work on Covid-19 recovery to support communities and businesses most affected by the pandemic. The Covid recovery strategy focus on supporting those most affected during the pandemic and complements a range of sector recovery plans. Our NHS recovery plan, published on 25 August 2021, sets out key commitments that will support recovery over the next five years and is backed by more than £1 billion in investment. Our education recovery plan, published on 5 October, puts improving educational outcomes at the heart of our learning recovery. The plan details the key next steps, including measures to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap. The Scottish Government has also worked with a range of different public authorities around the country to develop regional economic strategies in relation to Mr Kidd's constituency with the Glasgow City Region, which was launched in December 2021. That collaboration has ensured alignment around inclusive growth, increasing productivity and net zero ambitions. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I have been contacted by small local businesses that were allowed to remain open throughout the pandemic due to being essential, but I have nonetheless taken a substantial hit to their income. They did not receive the same kind of funding as forcibly closed businesses during the height of the pandemic. I would be obliged if the cabinet secretary could outline what strategies have been discussed by the Scottish and UK Governments to strengthen the long-term viability of small to medium-sized local businesses, including those categorised as essential, as we continue to move forward out of the grip of the pandemic. One of the measures that we have tried to take, which I understand the distinction that Mr Kidd makes in his question between businesses that remained open, but one of the measures that we have taken, which has affected a whole range of different businesses, has been, for example, some of the release of some business rates that have been present for a number of sectors on a continuous basis. The cabinet secretary has set out that they will continue for part of the next financial year. There is obviously on-going support that the Government makes available through the small business bonus scheme, which assists with the cost of running small businesses in all localities in Scotland. We have a number of strategies in place around, for example, the support to the retail sector and other developments in the enterprise policy, which are designed to support the very companies to which Mr Kidd refers. To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it is making for the local government elections in 2022 in order that people can vote safely. The statutory responsibility for funding delivering local government elections rests with councils and returning officers. The Parliament has already approved a number of legislative measures designed to help returning officers to ensure that people can vote safely. In addition, the Scottish Government is funding the system that will electronically count the votes cast, and my officials are in dialogue with the commission about the arrangements for delivering safely in the context of the pandemic. The legislation passed by Parliament and the discussions with the electoral community have been and continue to be informed by experience of successfully holding last year's Scottish election. Voters in the bellerno area of my constituency at the last election in May had lengthy queues at polling stations well beyond the 10pm normal closure time with the last vote being cast at 11.30pm. Can the minister outline what steps will be taken to ensure that people can cast their vote and avoid this situation being repeated at the forthcoming local government elections in May? The operation of each polling station is a matter for the relevant returning officer. The returning officer in Edinburgh has told me that they have reviewed polling provision in light of the experience in May 2021, which was largely a result of adverse weather during the day, which encouraged a large proportion of voters to delay their attendance at the polling place until the evening. All those who were in the queue at 10pm were able to cast their vote. For this May's election, each returning officer will seek to ensure that voters can vote safely, take into account public health advice and guidance from the Electrol Management Board for Scotland, including directions in relation to the operation of polling places. I thank those across Scotland who put in the power of work to make sure that the Holyrood election was able to go ahead safely. I also acknowledge the work of Graham Day on a cross-party basis to make sure that we were able to have that election. I do not think that we should undermine the work that actually went in to that election, but will emergency proxy votes still be in place for the council elections in case people still have to self-isolate? Will the Scottish Government look to review the provision of a royal mail delivery for each council candidate standing in this election? With regard to Mr Day, I always have difficulty giving credit to my former colleague or current colleague, even. However, in this case, I probably will do it. With regard to emergency papers, that is part of the SSI that has already gone through at this stage, where they will still be able to do that. With regard to the second part of your question, that would probably be brought up to local authority areas to decide in their actual area whether they want to do it or not. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Of course, we would all want to see safe elections. I would associate myself with the comments that were made about the conduct of the 2021 elections, but it is not just about polling days, but about the run-up to the election and the campaign itself. We would all want to see candidates being able to meet voters face-to-face, because we know how important that is, obviously, in line with public health regulations. Is it the minister's expectation that the election will be conducted in a more face-to-face manner of the campaign? Can he explain to Parliament how decisions will be taken about any further restrictions due to any emerging variants? I will get my crystal ball out right now and try to work out where we are going to be when it comes to the election. In all honesty, I understand where you are coming from. I understand where you are coming from. I know myself as a candidate last year, how difficult it can be for us all to sit there and not be able to physically go out and do anything about it. What I can assure the member is that, should there be any changes, one way or the other, I will make sure that I bring it to the chamber myself to make sure that you are aware of what is going on with regard to the election and ensure that, hopefully, we end up in a place where we have as close to normal election as possible, but I cannot make any promises, because who knows after the last 20 months? There will be a very short pause before we move to the next portfolio. Thank you. The next portfolio question is net zero energy and transport. If a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should press the request-to-speak button or enter the letter R in the chat function during the relevant question. I call question number one, Tess White. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when its refreshed energy strategy will be published. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Matheson. The Scottish Government will publish a draft energy strategy and just transition plan in spring this year. As part of its approach to the refreshed energy strategy, can the cabinet secretary confirm whether the Scottish Government will consult with a wide range of stakeholders to assess its position on nuclear as part of Scotland's future energy mix? The Scottish Government's position on nuclear energy has not changed under present technologies, and we do not support the building of any new nuclear power stations in Scotland. Therefore, it will not feature as part of the wider energy strategy review. Supplementary question from Fiona Hyslop, who is joining us remotely. Hydrogen technology and its deployment and delivery needs to be a key part of Scotland's energy mix. Other countries are marching ahead on this work for mass production and deployment rather than just pilot projects. Will the cabinet secretary assure the chamber that the energy strategy will see a step change in Scotland's work on hydrogen development, use and deployment as an energy source? The cabinet secretary will be aware that, on 10 November last year, we published our draft hydrogen action plan, which sets out a very strong strategic approach to the development of a hydrogen economy here in Scotland. It is also supported by £100 million of programme investment over the course of the next five years, which is specifically targeted at exhilarating the development of renewable hydrogen at scale here in Scotland. I can assure the chamber that, as part of our energy strategy and just transition plan, we will ensure that we develop further support around the hydrogen economy in Scotland and ensure that we do so at pace in order to ensure that Scotland is able to maximise the potential that can come from the development of hydrogen technology and its production here in Scotland. supplementary from Mark Ruskell, who is joining us remotely. Thanks. Can the cabinet secretary update the chamber on how the cost of nuclear energy currently compares with renewables? Nuclear power is a bad deal for consumers. In 2016, Hinkley Point received a contract for different strike price of £92.50 per megawatt hour, which has now increased by some 25 per cent since then. Recent power price spikes underline the need to create better outcomes from energy investments, particularly for those struggling with household finances. Internal analysis has identified that, in 2030 alone, Hinkley could add almost £40 a year to a consumer's bill, whereas an equivalent offshore wind farm would reduce bills by some £8 a year. Significant growth in renewables, storage, hydrogen and carbon capture are, in our view, the best way in which to secure Scotland's future energy needs and to meet our net zero objectives. To ask the Scottish Government in what ways the Internal Market Act of December 2020 could impact on its ability to meet its net zero targets. Cabinet secretary. The Scottish Government is determined to take all actions within our powers to tackle the climate emergency and deliver the legally binding targets set by this Parliament of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. However, the Internal Market Act can undermine decisions made by this Parliament, including in wholly devolved climate and environmental policy. The act means that standards elsewhere in the UK must be accepted here in Scotland, regardless of our regulations. It is, in my view, an attack on the powers of this Parliament, and it poses a direct threat to our ambitions to achieve net zero. Misa Thomson. I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply. In today's economy and fair work committee, it became clear that the Internal Market Act acts as an enabler for a whole raft of other legislation. For example, the subsidy control bill is one area of concern. Professor David Bell of Sterling University in his submission noted that, and I quote, it is also not clear how the bill might interact with policies that are intended to move the economy towards net zero. For example, if the Scottish Government proposed to subsidise industrial plants to reduce their carbon footprint, would it be forced by the Secretary of State for Bays to request a CMA assessment of this action? To what extent does the cabinet secretary share the concerns of Professor David Bell? The concerns that have been raised by Professor Bell are serious. The Scottish Government has consistently highlighted its concerns about the reservation of subsidy control in the UK Internal Market Act, and what that means for devolved policy making. The Internal Market Act has sweeping implications for a wide range of decisions made by this Parliament. The act not only reserved state aid, a previously devolved matter, but gives the UK Government powers to decide how public money is spent in wholly devolved policy areas, as well as imposing new market access principles that could force us to accept standards set in other parts of the UK. It is an unprecedented assault on the devolved powers and the responsibilities of this Parliament, which is why the act should be repealed. 3. Rhoda Grant To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to support ferry services in Scotland. The current ferries plan delivered transformational changes with new routes for Gwrectigol, Cregan, Camelton, Loch Boy, Stil, Malig, a dedicated barra vessel and increased sailings to Mullen Arran. The planned investment of £580 million will improve Scotland's ferry infrastructure and the procurement of new Iowa vessels. The purchase of the MV log freeza is what continues as the small vessel replacement programme for new vessels and for Danoone, Cregan, Mal and South East, and freighters for Orkney and Shetland moves forward. We also continue to explore possible options for second hand tonnage, both for passenger and freighter purposes. We recognise the pressure on local authority since 2017. We provide an additional £50 million of funding to help them to deliver the ferry services that they are responsible for. Communities that rely on the Scottish Government for lifeline ferry services have been failed. The minister must involve operators, unions and communities in strategic planning to make sure that services meet their needs. Currently, there is no strategic plan, only service cuts and eye-watering delays in building our new ferry services, which is on-going. Capacity has been cut due to lack of funding and no alternative services are proposed from Harris for six months when the Uigh harbour is upgraded. I could go on daily, the list gets longer. How on earth the minister proposed to deliver lifeline ferry services in the face of now additional budget cuts? I have acknowledged in the past that we must improve the delivery of ferry services to our island communities. I have never shut from that. On strategic planning, there are a multitude of options moving forward on how we do that. One, for example, is one that I have instigated, which is for the role and enhanced role for the communities board to hear the voice of communities held through that. We also engage with local authorities. Of course, we can and we must do better, but let me pick up on the point that is a reasonable one about the services to Harris later this year because of the closure of Uigh harbour. Interestingly, Uigh harbour is closing for an upgrade being funded by the Scottish Government, a substantial upgrade for a harbour that we do not actually own. That demonstrates our commitment. I see the road of grant shaking in our heads, but £60 million is a considerable sum of money to be invested in a port that has not been maintained to the standard that we would require. However, to be more constructive on that point, I absolutely recognise the concern of the community. My officials are working with CalMac to see how we can mitigate the impact of the necessary work on the community. There are a number of supplementary requests on this question. I will be able to take some of them, but sadly not all given time constraints. CalMac has admitted that some of its skippers are neither experienced nor content enough to sail to a droswn or guru at its port of refuge in moderate, not to mention bad weather, leading to sailings being cancelled needlessly. What discussions has the minister had with CalMac regarding the training of its skippers to minimise the problem going forward? I should stress at the outset—I am sure that Kenny Gibson agrees with this—that the decisions around the safety of passage and birthing at various ports must lie rightly with the masters of the vessels concerned. It would be wrong for anyone to challenge those individual decisions, which are always taken on the basis of the safety of passengers' crew in the vessel itself. I have had officials in dialogue with CalMac on this matter over the past 48 hours, because it is concerning what has been suggested. All of the crews are fully trained in enormous circumstances. Experienced masters are familiar with specific routes, and they will be deployed in those locations. However, given the very acute circumstances that are in place at the moment, as a result of the Covid-related absences, we have had crews on vessels that are less familiar with particular routes in order to ensure that there is the operation of the service. On the particular issue of familiarity in training with usable alternate ports, that is something that would be ideally done. CalMac would look to work towards that, but, of course, in doing that, we need to take vessels out of the service in order to do it. Equally, I understand the impact that the issues have on the concerns of ferry users, and I will undertake personally to discuss that with senior management at CalMac tomorrow. Thank you. The minister will be aware that, in terms of local government funding, the perhead of population settlement received by Western Isles Council is significantly higher than that received by Orkney Islands Council, yet ferry replacement costs on west coast routes are covered by the Scottish Government, while OIC is left to pick up the significant tab for replacing the ageing vessels on the internal services. Does the minister believe that that is fair, and, if not, what is he going to do about it? Minister? This is a conversation that Mr MacArthur and I have had on numerous occasions, and I note that he did not acknowledge the substantial amount of funding that has already been provided to Orkney Islands Council, both in terms of the service delivery, and I think that there was capital funding provided for the replacement of a vessel previously, if memory serves. Those vessels are the responsibility of the local authority, but I am aware that there is dialogue between the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Orkney Islands Council and others on the very subject of what ferry replacement funding would look like going forward. Is that documentary, Jenny Mintle, who is joining us remotely? Thank you, Presiding Officer. A combination of adverse weather and horizon Covid cases among crew and shore staff have had a severe impact on service provision in recent weeks and days. What difference will the changes to the isolation rules make, and what more can be done to encourage compliance by passengers with relevant protective measures? Transport Scotland continues to engage daily with CalMac on the impacts to services, and to monitor that as we move forward. The reduced isolation period has already appeared to provide some relief to the pressures that are being faced, although, of course, there always remains the risk of disruption due to further infections of crew and staff. Let me place in record my appreciation of the work of the crew and staff throughout the pandemic, both on the west coast and in the northern isles. As the sixes are eased, the emphasis will continue to be on personal responsibility, good practice and informed judgement. I encourage everyone using our ferries to ask themselves if the journeys that they are considering on ferry routes are necessary at this time in order that we best protect services and ensure that space remains available, particularly for our island communities. To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to revise the conditions of eligibility for the bus service operators grant. The bus service operators grant is currently suspended and, other than exceptional circumstances, emergency Covid-19 support grants are in place to support operators to maintain services. We are monitoring passenger numbers closely and developing options for future financial support for bus services, taking account of the continuing impact of the pandemic. I thank the minister for that response. Indeed, it is clear that the bus service operators grant was no longer fit for purpose. When looking to the future, can we look at alternative ways of doing that, such as looking at the provisions in the 2019 transport act powers for local authorities to regulate private providers to regional franchises and invest in publicly-owned and accountable bus companies? Previously, we have seen operators provided with financial support that they continue to withdraw and extract and reduce bus services from communities across Glasgow and Scotland. Minister? In terms of some of the concerns that he has expressed and his aspirations, I am not a million miles away from the views of the member, insofar as it is imperative moving forward that the bus provision that we have in this country is tailored to meet the needs and the requirements of our communities and bus users, that must be the priority. I know that Mr Sweeney has a real interest in this issue and I would be more than happy to meet him and discuss this matter further. What impact does the minister think that the provision of free travel for all under-22s in Scotland might have on bus services, incomes for the bus companies and their viability? We are in a state of flux at the moment and there is no doubt about that. In the context of the under-22 provision, we have set reimbursement terms carefully in line with the statutory objective of the free bus schemes that bus operators should be financially no better or no worse off as a result of their participation. In the short term, I would not therefore expect the scheme to have any negative effect on services. Over time, by creating more demand for bus services and by supporting young people to dot sustainable travel habits early in their lives, I would expect it to lead to increased bus usage, improving services and their viability. Given the immediate impacts of the pandemic, it will take some time for all of that to work its way through. To ask the Scottish Government what the priorities will be for the new chief scientific adviser for environment, natural resources and agriculture. The new chief scientific adviser for environment, natural resources and agriculture, Professor Matthew Williams, will lead the integration and effective use of evidence in policy across a really wide range of subjects, including the environment, agriculture, climate change by diversity, food security, land use and animal health. The overarching priorities for the role include delivering a strategic approach to science across the portfolio, providing assurance that scientific evidence and advice is robust. Ensuring that ministers receive the most up-to-date advice on key scientific issues. I thank the minister for that answer. Professor Matthew Williams has 25 years of experience of monitoring and modelling terrestrial ecosystems and the resources air responses to global change. Does she therefore share my view that Professor Williams is exactly the right person to ensure that we continue to produce evidence to inform policy development and delivery at the heart of our journey towards net zero? I absolutely do sound scientific advice. It is utterly crucial to help us to tackle Scotland's environment and climate challenges. As the member has set out, Professor Williams' expertise will be invaluable in helping us to address the challenges and indeed the opportunities that we face in the coming years in order to meet Scotland's world-leading net zero ambitions. 6. Willie Coffey, who is joining us remotely. Thank you to ask the Scottish Government how it is tackling fuel poverty in Kilmarnock and Irran Valley. We target all four drivers of fuel poverty but decisions about low income benefits and regulation of the energy markets are reserved to the UK Government. Since 2013, we have allocated £12.4 million through our area-based schemes to improve energy efficiency in East Ayrshire. Those projects have benefited more than 2,974 fuel poor households. Families in Kilmarnock and Irran Valley have also benefited from improvements through our national warmer homes Scotland service. In addition, we continue to provide free and impartial advice to every household in Scotland through our Home Energy Scotland service. Scotland is an energy-rich nation yet nearly a quarter of all our households are still living in fuel poverty. Scottish Government initiatives are extremely important in helping us to drive fuel poverty down but does the cabinet secretary agree that energy price heights, raising the fuel price cap and continuing to charge VAT will have a severe impact, particularly on the poorest in Scotland? What can the Scottish Government do to press the UK Government to intervene in these matters before thousands more households in Scotland fall further into fuel poverty? Mr Coffey makes a very good case about the increasing pressure that households are facing as a result of the financial pressures that they are experiencing, including the significant increase that we have seen in energy prices. Regulation in the pricing of the energy markets is reserved to the UK Government. It is critical that the UK Government now takes this matter seriously and takes action in order to try and minimise the financial impact that significant energy prices could experience once the cap is reviewed in the next few weeks. The consequence of that if the UK Government does not take action is that potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions of households across the UK as a whole, will be forced into fuel poverty. That is why there are a range of measures that the UK Government should look at taking, not just including the issue of that but the various levies that are applied to energy tariffs at the present moment, which can have a disproportionate impact on households that are reliant on in the electrical heating. The UK Government now needs to act in both myself and Shona Robison to have made representations to the UK Government on that matter, and we are seeking a meeting with them at a nearly date in order to explore what further measures they are prepared to take in order to try to address what a household financial crisis is, which has been fuelled by the ever-increasing costs of energy prices. I thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Tackling fuel poverty must include ensuring that homes are energy efficient. With that in mind, I can ask the cabinet secretary when the Scottish Government will set embodied carbon targets at early design stages for new builds and redevelopment projects and that those energy efficient measures are affordable for developers and accessible for all homes. The member will be aware that, last year, we published our strategy for heating buildings and to make sure that we were taking forward the right measures in order to reduce fuel poverty and to improve insulation of properties that are being retrofitted. Alongside that, we are also looking at whether the existing building regulations need to be amended further in order to ensure greater fuel efficiency. All of that is part of our wider work in order to make sure that we meet our 2030-75 per cent net zero target and our 2045 net zero target. Those are all issues that we are continuing to look at in order to make sure that residential premises in particular are increasingly fuel efficient and that we do so in a way that helps to reduce fuel poverty. To ask the Scottish Government what work is being undertaken to change electricity levees schemes in order to tackle fuel poverty in rural and island areas of the north of Scotland. The legal powers to regulate the energy markets and to set associated levees are reserved to the UK Government and we have called on them to take action to protect energy consumers against the significant increases that are expected in retail prices in the coming months. We must see a review of the energy levees for social and environmental obligations as set out in our own heat and building strategy, as we also set out in our fuel poverty strategy and also are a key ask that the Scottish Government has made of the UK Government through our own representations. I would certainly encourage anyone who is facing high energy bills to contact Home Energy Scotland for advice on how they can reduce their fuel costs. I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply. The north of Scotland is a region rich in green energy and also has twice the Scottish levels of extreme fuel poverty. As the cabinet secretary has recognised, I think that part of that problem is the unfair and archaic transmission charges set by the UK Government, which in effect charge consumers by how far they are from the south. In Scotland, there is a significantly higher distribution cost levy per unit for customers in the north of Scotland than in the south. Will the Scottish Government continue now to lobby to get rid of that once and for all? Mr Alam makes a very good point, and he represents a constituency where there are greater levels of fuel poverty, which is exacerbated by some of the environmental and social obligation costs that are applied to energy bills, which end up causing a premium to be set for some customers making greater use, particularly of electricity-based heating. That is why the Scottish Government will continue to make representations to the UK Government on the matter and the need to take urgent action to address the issue, because a figure should do so will simply cause more households to fall into fuel poverty. That is why it is essential that the UK Government take urgent action on the issue before the review of the fuel price cap is completed and implemented in the months ahead. The cabinet secretary is very quick to blame the UK Government, yet fails to mention that, by removing subsidy for LPG heating systems through its warmer home Scotland scheme, the Scottish Government is forcing electric only heating solutions on to fuel-poor off-grid households when they might not be appropriate or what the consumer needs. Will the cabinet secretary consider reinstating support for heating technology such as LPG, which has a clear transition to renewable bio-LPG, in order to give fuel-poor households meaningful choice? The way to address that particular issue, is to deal with the unnecessary levies that are being applied to electricity costs that are being imposed by the UK Government and, through off-gen, in order to reduce the cost of electricity, rather than continuing to sustain forms of energy technology that are not compatible with their net zero objectives. That requires a significant approach to changing the way in which energy is provided in this country. To think about the issue in a way in which Liam Kerr would suggest that it is not going to address fuel poverty significantly, because the regulation of the present market is not working effectively and is not working in consumers' interests. That is why the UK Government needs to get serious about the matter and start to take action before households find that their energy costs by the course of the next coming few months start to almost increase by 50 per cent if the fuel price cap is lifted to the levels that it is expected to go. It is essential that the UK Government step in and deal with this issue. If it does not do so, it will potentially send millions of households into fuel poverty as a result of their inaction and failure to regulate the energy markets properly. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that public transport is accessible to disabled people. People with disabilities should be able to travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens. That is why the 10-year accessible travel framework was created in 2016. It identifies 40 issues through discussions with disabled people and organisations that represent them. The Government continues to work closely with transport providers and disabled people's organisations to address those issues through a series of annual delivery plans. I thank the minister for that answer. The pandemic has exacerbated those challenges, particularly for people with sight loss in accessing public transport. For example, with short notice timetable changes and service cancellation. What work is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that information is available to passengers, given that lots of transport apps appear to be developed separately? As we come out of the pandemic, what support will be available to enable people with sight loss to access public transport services such as access to support on trains and at stations? A lot to unpack there. Passenger assistance and provision of information were two of the 40 issues that were identified in the 2016 framework. I acknowledge that there is still work to be done there. If on public transport, despite our best efforts, we are coming up short in the way that Sarah Boyack highlights. I particularly note the point about the pandemic, which is concerning. That would be a matter of concern to me, so I would be happy to meet the member to hear first-hand from her more about the concerns in the immediate and the longer term and see how we might better address those going forward. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business.