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Citizens Advice Scotland has responded to the Scottish Government's Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland consultation

Here is the Autumn/Winter 2021 edition of Voice. In this issue we focus on some if the green issues that we have all been thinking about in the wake of COP26. We hear from colleagues who attended the climate summit and learn a bit about their roles there. Patrick Harvie MSP shares his thoughts on the event and tells us how we, as a network, can support Net Zero ambitions. We also take a look at a range of energy related issues - from the BESW campaign to fuel poverty and rising energy costs. The Increase Volunteering project team gave us the low down on how they ae supporting training and Roxburgh CAB are ahead of the game in helping their local community to comply with upcoming fire and smoke alarm regulations.

The Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019 requires the Scottish Government to publish a fuel poverty strategy, outline what steps will be taken to meet fuel poverty targets and identify the characteristics of households likely to be in fuel poverty or for whom getting out of fuel poverty presents particular challenges.

The Citizens Advice network in Scotland gathers demographic data on those who contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau for support as well as information on the types of issues on which people seek advice, including fuel poverty. This demographic data allows for examination of CAB clients who have protected characteristics and whether they are more or less likely to seek advice on fuel poverty-related issues.

This report analyses that data within the policy context, considers other relevant literature, and makes a number of recommendations.