Public Audit Committee
Decarbonising heat in homes
Background
On 1 February 2024, the Auditor General for Scotland published Decarbonising heat in homes.
The report says:
"The Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to improving how we heat our homes, initially with a focus on improving energy efficiency. Scotland’s statutory emissions reduction targets, set in 2019 in response to the climate emergency, require the achievement of stretching goals. This includes reducing emissions from heating homes as much as possible by 2045, which will need the majority of households to change their heating systems. The scale of the challenge of reducing emissions from heating homes is huge and there are several risks to success. Unless the scale and pace of activity significantly increase the Scottish Government’s ambition will not be met".
Meetings
29 February 2024
The Committee took evidence from:
Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General for Scotland; Cornilius Chikwama, Audit Director; and Derek Hoy, Audit Manager, Audit Scotland.
Read the agenda and meeting papers, 29 February 2024
Read the Official Report, 29 February 2024
Read the meeting minutes, 29 February 2024
Decision: The Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda item 3 and agreed to invite the Scottish Government to give oral evidence at a future meeting.
28 March 2024
The Committee took evidence from:
Roy Brannen, Director-General Net Zero; Kersti Berge, Director Energy and Climate Change; Catherine Williams, Deputy Director for Heat in Buildings Delivery; and Sue Kearns, Deputy Director for Heat in Buildings Policy and Regulation, Scottish Government.
Read the agenda and meeting papers, 28 March 2024
Read the Official Report, 28 March 2024
Read the meeting minutes, 28 March 2024
Decision: The Committee agreed to defer consideration of its next steps until after taking further evidence from the Auditor General for Scotland at a future meeting.
Decision: At its meeting on 18 April 2024, the Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda item 5 and agreed to close its scrutiny of the Decarbonising heat in homes report and in doing so, write to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee and the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.