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Details of the applications made broken down by local authority area are in the following table.

Source: The Energy Saving Trust.

We said in Homes Fit for the 21st Century, our Strategy and Action Plan for Housing in the Next Decade, that we would develop a strategy for sustainable housing in Scotland in 2012. We intend to publish the strategy by the end of 2012.

The Sustainable Housing Strategy Group is a new group convened by the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment. The group will bring together leaders in the sector as champions for emission reduction, housing quality and fuel poverty. It will meet for the first time on 4 October. Minutes of the meeting will be published in due course on the Sustainable Housing section of the Scottish Government website.

We are working with external stakeholders to develop climate change standards as follows:

(a) Domestic Properties

We are discussing with stakeholders the development of a draft climate change standard for social housing beyond the requirements of the current Scottish Housing Quality Standard. We will also develop guidance on appropriate technical measures to be installed in relevant housing types and provide advice on cost implications as well as links to relevant funding streams. A working group, including representatives from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, COSLA and individual social landlords is taking this work forward. The working group is expected to draft a standard for public consultation by early 2012 with the new standard to be finalised later that year.

Scottish ministers set out their approach in March 2011 to setting minimum standards for private sector housing and we are developing an action plan to take regulation forward after 2015. This will involve working in partnership with stakeholders.

(b) Business Properties

To assist with the development of the consultation on regulations for existing non-domestic buildings (including business properties), a departmental Working Group made up of representatives from across industry was formed and has met six times. There are both public and private sector members, with a knowledge base covering, technical, legal and operational aspects. The public consultation is intended to be issued in autumn 2011.

The Scottish Government has had many meetings with external stakeholders since May 2007 at which the issues of climate change in relation to a) buildings and b) estates were discussed. It is not possible to identify all the relevant meetings held at both Ministerial and official level. However, a list of some key meetings is provided in the following table.

Table 1 – Meetings with External Stakeholders

The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities, initially in the JESSICA Fund area, to develop the potential for solar photovoltaic projects using Feed-in Tariffs for renewable electricity. A similar workstream with a steering group of registered social landlords from across Scotland is also promoting the use of solar photovoltaics and Feed-in Tariffs. Housing Associations can get free independent help by contacting the Energy Saving Trust.

The Climate Challenge Fund and the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme are supporting registered social landlords and communities access renewable energy technologies, including photovoltaics and the benefits from Feed-in Tariffs.

We will publish a microgeneration strategy for Scotland by the end of 2011. It will set out our plans to build on the range of support already in place.

The boiler scrappage scheme will remain open for applications until the £2.5 million budget has been committed.

Forestry Commission Scotland is currently working with its development partners for the national forest estate to agree the location of wind and hydro schemes that should be investigated in more detail. As these potential sites are agreed, the commission will expect the development partners to engage with local communities in order to determine community preferences for receiving benefits. These leading edge community benefits will include an annual payment of £5,000 per megawatt installed, together with opportunities for communities to invest directly in the schemes.

Detailed analysis of the environmental impacts arising from the Deepwater Horizon incident is still awaited. The Scottish regulatory community take very seriously the need to apply any lessons as they emerge, albeit that some of these will be relevant only to incidents of a similar nature in a similar environment. Scottish Government officials are participating in the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG), which provides a focal point for review of the industry’s practices in advance of the conclusion of investigations into the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Marine Scotland officials also participated in Exercise Sula, which was carried out in Aberdeen and Shetland in May, following the request of the First Minister. This covered scenarios around the immediate aftermath of a deep-water oil spill and oil potentially coming ashore one week later. This included a practical demonstration of response equipment and procedures. A report of the Exercise is being prepared by the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and will be published shortly.

The National Contingency Plan is also currently being reviewed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in order to take account of lessons learned from Deepwater Horizon and Exercise Sula. Marine Scotland will participate in this review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02236 on 14 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.