- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much of the £1.8 billion of funding for energy efficiency and renewable systems schemes, which it has committed to provide in the current parliamentary session, has been allocated.
Answer
From April 2021 to the end of July 2023, the Heat in Buildings programme has spent over £315m, with an allocated budget of £333m for the 2023-24 financial year.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many applications for Private Rented Sector Landlord Loans have been received by Home Energy Scotland since the scheme was established, and, of those, how many have been successful.
Answer
The Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan Scheme received 404 applications between April 2020 and August 2023. Of those, 282 applications were successful.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many houses are below the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C rating, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides estimates of the number of homes which have an EPC rating below band C. For figures at the local authority level the Scottish Government uses a three year pooled data set to ensure sufficient sample sizes.
These figures were recently provided in the answer to PQ S6W-20664 which gave the number and percentage of all homes below EPC C by local authority area for the latest available 3 year period 2017-2019.
The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings.
The most recent estimates of houses (specifically covering all Detached, Semi-detached and terraced houses) with an EPC below C at local authority level are for 2017-2019, and are presented in the following table.
| | Number of houses by Local Authority and the number and percentage which have an EPC rating below C. |
Local Authority | Total number of houses | Of which EPC rated below C | % rated below EPC C | Sample |
Aberdeen City | 52,000 | 34,000 | 65% | 129 |
Aberdeenshire | 99,000 | 70,000 | 71% | 220 |
Angus | 40,000 | 29,000 | 73% | 198 |
Argyll and Bute | 29,000 | 24,000 | 83% | 167 |
Clackmannanshire | 18,000 | 8,000 | 45% | 165 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 62,000 | 49,000 | 79% | 242 |
Dundee City | 36,000 | 25,000 | 69% | 140 |
East Ayrshire | 43,000 | 24,000 | 56% | 197 |
East Dunbartonshire | 37,000 | 23,000 | 63% | 206 |
East Lothian | 35,000 | 23,000 | 67% | 186 |
East Renfrewshire | 31,000 | 21,000 | 67% | 189 |
Edinburgh, City of | 81,000 | 51,000 | 63% | 233 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 12,000 | 11,000 | 93% | 263 |
Falkirk | 52,000 | 25,000 | 48% | 185 |
Fife | 125,000 | 77,000 | 62% | 336 |
Glasgow City | 78,000 | 40,000 | 52% | 187 |
Highland | 98,000 | 78,000 | 79% | 238 |
Inverclyde | 17,000 | 10,000 | 56% | 106 |
Midlothian | 30,000 | 17,000 | 55% | 215 |
Moray | 37,000 | 28,000 | 75% | 181 |
North Ayrshire | 48,000 | 29,000 | 61% | 171 |
North Lanarkshire | 99,000 | 49,000 | 50% | 221 |
Orkney Islands | 10,000 | 9,000 | 85% | 255 |
Perth and Kinross | 55,000 | 38,000 | 70% | 215 |
Renfrewshire | 48,000 | 22,000 | 47% | 110 |
Scottish Borders | 41,000 | 27,000 | 66% | 164 |
Shetland Islands | 10,000 | 9,000 | 93% | 257 |
South Ayrshire | 38,000 | 27,000 | 72% | 176 |
South Lanarkshire | 113,000 | 69,000 | 62% | 259 |
Stirling | 30,000 | 19,000 | 63% | 190 |
West Dunbartonshire | 22,000 | 12,000 | 55% | 120 |
West Lothian | 60,000 | 26,000 | 44% | 208 |
Scotland | 1,584,000 | 1,005,000 | 63% | 6329 |
Notes 1. Source Scottish House Condition Survey 2017-19. 2. EPC figures are based on SAPv9.92 3. The SHCS is a sample survey and therefore all figures are estimates which lie at the midpoint of a confidence interval which depends primarily on sample size. A statistical tool for calculating 95% confidence intervals around these estimates can be found at . |
As set out in the most recent Scottish House Condition Survey 2021 Key Findings Report, (available at ) there will be no Local Authority publication relating to the 2019 to 2021 three year period as the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to Covid-19 and the 2021 SHCS was undertaken using a different methodology that is not consistent to previous years.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much has been allocated to owner-occupiers as part of its renewable systems loans and cashback schemes, since the schemes were established.
Answer
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback scheme.
Across these schemes, since May 2017 to August 2023, a total of £135,595,244.31 has been allocated in funding for renewable measures.
Prior to the launch of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlord Loan in May 2021, PRS landlords could access funding through the HES Loan and Cashback scheme. This means that the total funding allocated may include funding for PRS landlords as well as owner-occupiers.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to those whose applications for energy efficiency grants and loans have been unsuccessful, including in relation to any future applications process, and advice for next steps.
Answer
Where an application to the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme is unsuccessful, the applicant will be informed why they have been unsuccessful. Applicants have the right to appeal and can provide further information to help progress their application.
If an application has been unsuccessful, the HES Advice Service can provide further information and support. Unsuccessful applicants are not precluded from applying to the scheme again in the future.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many applications for energy efficiency grants and loans have been received since its schemes were established, and, of those, how many have been successful.
Answer
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback scheme.
Across these schemes, since May 2017 to August 2023, a total of 8315 applications for energy efficiency funding have been received and 5908 have been successful.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much has been allocated to private landlords as part of the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loans scheme for energy efficiency improvements, since the scheme was established.
Answer
The Scottish Government has recently responded to several parliamentary questions relating to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlords Loans Scheme. Recently answered questions relating to funding allocated and provided through the PRS Scheme include: S6W-20397, S6W-20398, S6W-20399, S6W-20400, S6W-20401, S6W-20402 on 31 August 2023.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
For information relating to the question asked, please refer to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, under bib number 64462.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 20 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has completed its work.
Answer
The Green Heat Finance Taskforce will continue to meet over the autumn as it works towards producing its final report in early 2024, as discussed in response to S6W-21001 on 20 September 2023.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 20 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the Green Heat Finance Taskforce will publish its final report.
Answer
The Green Heat Finance Taskforce final report is expected to be published in early 2024.
The Taskforce’s part 1 report, which will be published shortly, will focus on potential finance and funding solutions for individual property owners. It will include consideration of the structure, availability and demand for green finance products; identify barriers which impede the flow of private finance at present; and make recommendations on how to reduce these constraints. It will cover financing mechanisms like green mortgages, equity release, green leases and property linked finance.
The Taskforce’s part 2 report will set out conclusions on communal and place-based financing solutions which can apply to multiple properties, for example, heat networks, municipal bonds and heat as a service subscription models. It will also consider options for the social housing sector, as well as further discussing how mechanisms like blended financing can help utilise public funding to crowd in additional private finance.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to ensure that public buildings that have been built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete are safe to be used.
Answer
I would refer initially to the statement I made on this topic to Parliament on 7 September.
Where the presence of RAAC is confirmed in a public building, we expect the owner to take appropriate measures to assess and manage any risk identified, following the Institution for Structural Engineer’s current guidance on this process.
We remain in regular contact with organisations across the public sector to seek reassurance on this matter, directly and through our cross-sector working group.
Information on RAAC and the work of our cross-sector working group, as an activity of the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety, will be published on our website.
