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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 MSPs 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-19843

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

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Housing (Scotland) Bill will include provisions relating to energy efficiency measures as common works by householders.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill amends the powers of local authorities to require home owners to carry out work on homes that are below tolerable standard, and this includes homes that lack satisfactory thermal insulation. The Bill also includes a provision to enable local authorities to pay missing shares where a majority of home owners agree common works under the Tenement Management Scheme, and this can include works to install insulation.

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-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-19826

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

To ask the Scottish Government how it has engaged with stakeholders in Scotland to assess the impact of changes to the energy company obligation.

We have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders to discuss the energy company obligation (ECO) and to work closely with delivery partners on the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland. Stakeholders with whom we engage regularly include, amongst others: local authorities, registered social landlords, the National Insulation Association, energy companies, the Fuel Poverty Forum and its energy company obligation (ECO) sub-group. We also keep stakeholders up to date on ECO activity through our regular Scottish Government ECO newsletter and we encourage stakeholders to join the newsletter’s mailing list.

These contacts will inform our response to the UK Government’s consultation on their proposed changes to the ECO.

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-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-19828

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 alternative funding sources it is investigating for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland in the event that funding from the energy company obligation declines.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with local authorities, obligated energy companies and other delivery partners to assess the impact of the changes to the energy company obligation (ECO) on the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS).

There is a fixed budget within Government and we are unable to compensate for the decline in ECO caused by Westminster policy changes. However, we will attempt to meet the challenge by exploring all possible routes of funding including Green Deal, Scottish Government funding streams for community renewables, European funding and other relevant public and private sources of finance.

Longer term, we have set out our commitment in Scotland’s Future about what we would do in an independent Scotland. We plan to remove certain obligations from energy bills and maintain current funding levels from central resources.

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.

Question reference: S4O-02868

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there was a delay in the publication of the business case for the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme.

Question reference: S4W-19123

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities it consulted and in what form in advance of its announcement on 7 January 2013 regarding the provision of school meals.

Extending the entitlement of free school meals to children in primary 1 to 3, has been a Scottish Government commitment since 2007 and there has been an on-going dialogue between COSLA and the Scottish Government about it.

Following the UK Government’s autumn statement on 5 December 2013, Scottish Ministers carefully considered how to use the consequential funding to the optimum benefit for children and young people. This included the consideration of the views previously expressed by COSLA and the views of the 5 local authorities that piloted free school meals for primary 1-3 pupils in 2007-08. These views are contained within the ‘Evaluation of the free school meals trial for primary 1-3 pupils’ which was published in 2008 and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/08/29114033/0.