It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank you profusely for stepping in and taking on these proceedings to allow this important debate to go ahead.
I also thank the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows), who is passionate about these issues. We have a constructive working relationship, and I always enjoy spending time with her and talking about the issues that are important to her constituents and people across Scotland. I continue to engage with her and am always willing to engage with colleagues from all parties on such matters. In that spirit, I thank Members for their contributions, which have covered a wide range of points. I will endeavour to address as many of them as possible, while making sure that the hon. Lady has the opportunity to sum up the debate.
I thank the many charities, both locally and nationally, that do so much good work supporting people, particularly those who are vulnerable or disabled. They do so in an effective way by working collaboratively with those individuals, often in difficult and challenging circumstances. Perhaps most importantly, charities make sure that there is awareness of the support that is available to people.
I want to make it clear at the outset that the Government recognise the difficulties that many households have experienced during this period. It has been incredibly difficult, and it is impossible for any Member of Parliament not to be acutely aware of that, given our constituency correspondence, and our conversations when we are out and about and in our surgeries. A lot of that is explained by high global gas prices—I think we all recognise the root causes—and the market volatility that has flowed as a result. That has undoubtedly had an impact on affordability for individual households. It has put a considerable strain on the cost of living, and I would argue that it explains why the Prime Minister is absolutely right to have set getting inflation down as one of the Government’s key missions.