Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-19825

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��what assessment it has carried out of the likely impact of changes to the energy company obligation on the funding of the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland.

We are in regular discussion with the delivery partners for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS), including local councils, to assess the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed changes to the energy company obligation (ECO) on HEEPS and how to mitigate this.

ECO is a UK Government scheme which places legal obligations on energy companies. It operates across England, Scotland and Wales and there is no separate funding allocation for Scotland. Statistics on delivery of ECO over the first nine months of the obligation show that Scotland has received a greater than pro-rata share of the measures funded by energy companies under the obligation across Great Britain.

Question reference: S4W-19832

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��how many households have received support under the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland area based schemes initiative, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) type of support.

We do not hold information on the number of households which have received support under the area based element of the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland. We are working with local authorities and other delivery agents to gather this data.

Councils have until September 2014 to install measures funded from the 2013-14 area based schemes programme. Final information on delivery through the area based schemes will therefore not be available until after this date.

However, our area based schemes are designed to work alongside the energy company obligation and, based on quarterly information provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, we know that around 32,000 energy efficiency measures have been installed in Scottish households between January and September 2013.

Question reference: S4W-19842

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��when the Regulation of Energy Efficiency in Private Sector Homes working group will present for consultation draft regulations to improve the energy efficiency of existing private sector housing.

Question reference: S4W-19841

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��what progress it is making on delivering the recommendations in A Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy for Scotland: 2013 Update.

Building standards officials are in the process of investigating the fifteen additional recommendations made in the 2013 update of the original 2007 Sullivan Report.

In announcing deferment of the next set of energy standards in building regulations until October 2015, I have already acted upon the first recommendation made by the panel under the ‘Eventual and Staged Standards’ topic.

At this time, the focus of officials and the construction industry has turned to the development of an ‘action plan’ in support of the 2015 standards, referred to in the fifth recommendation under the ‘Eventual and Staged Standards’ topic.

Question reference: S4W-19835

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��when it will next publish a progress report on the fuel poverty statement.

Question reference: S4W-19837

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��when it will��publish its response to the consultation, European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 Programmes, and whether it plans to use the funds to support home energy efficiency and domestic microrenewables schemes.

The recent consultation generated 80 responses and the final report will be published by 14 March 2014. There is currently considerable support for domestic energy efficiency within Scotland, and the structural funds must not duplicate that provision, and either fill gaps or create enhanced support. The provision of home energy efficiency has therefore not been considered the highest priority for the use of the funds. In terms of wider energy support, the 2014-20 programmes will focus primarily on supporting energy initiatives in the non-domestic sector to support SME growth, innovation and the development of the low carbon economy. In addition, an intervention aiming to support active community partnership models and projects is under consideration; this could create opportunities for domestic energy and micro-renewable schemes at a community level.

Question reference: S4W-19834

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-18027 by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 November 2013, what progress it is making on delivering its statutory duty "to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that people are not living in fuel poverty in Scotland by November 2016".

The Scottish Government is committed to eradicating fuel poverty and is doing everything within its limited powers to achieve this.

Fuel poverty statistics published in December 2013 show a reduction in the number of households living in fuel poverty in Scotland. Between October 2011 and mid 2012 there was a 3.4% drop in fuel poverty, this equates to around 74,000 households, with improved energy efficiency contributing two-thirds of the fall.

Question reference: S4W-19833

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��when it will announce the second round of funding for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland area based schemes initiative.

Our budget for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) is £74 million in 2013-14. We will spend nearly a quarter of a billion pounds over a three year period on fuel poverty and energy efficiency. For each of the next two years the Scottish Government spending plans allocated funding of £79 million for fuel poverty.

On 3 March 2014 we announced that £60 million of HEEPS funding has been allocated to local authorities for area based fuel poverty schemes for next financial year 2014-15.

Question reference: S4W-19831

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government��how many households have had energy efficiency measures installed under the energy assistance scheme, broken down by type of measure.

The following table shows the number of households whose installations have been completed (i.e. passed inspection) and for which the Scottish Government has been invoiced for both the Energy Assistance Scheme and stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package in the period April to December 2013. The Scottish Government will publish data for the full 2013-14 financial year in due course.

Installation type	Energy Assistance Scheme	Energy Assistance Package (Stage 4)	Total
Central Heating Systems	1697	3649	5346
Of which:	��	��	��
Gas	1591	2897	4488
Electric Dry	51	398	449
Oil	33	203	236
LPG	18	81	99
Solid Fuel	4	37	41
Air Source Heat Pump	0	25	25
Electric Wet	0	8	8
��	��	��	��
Insulation only (including mobile home insulation)	68	225	293
TOTAL	1765	3874	5639

Installations completed under stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package relate to applications made prior to 1 April 2014.

Question reference: S4O-02939

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Coping with the cuts? Local government and poorer communities.