Chamber and committees

As I said, Scottish ministers have now pressed UK ministers on no fewer than six occasions since the warm homes plan was first mooted. I have to give UK ministers some due: disruption was caused by the former Deputy Prime Minister having to leave the Government and by ministerial reshuffles having to take place as a result. However, if Mark Griffin thinks that it would be sensible for the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament to proceed with a bill that pertains to the type of energy and the cost of energy throughout Scotland—at a time when 33 to 34 per cent of households are in fuel poverty—when I do not have clarity from the UK Government on what it intends to do on the cost of electricity, I am afraid that that is simply irresponsible.

We have a strong record on delivering on heat in buildings in Scotland. I continue to do that by rolling out further the grants and loans that are available to connect to heat networks, and we will continue to take forward the work on the bill.

I completely agree. It is vital that the transition must be taken forward with communities, not imposed on them. Our consultation on the heat in buildings bill received more than 1,600 responses, and that feedback has helped to develop the content of a significant and complicated bill, the draft proposal for which members have in front of them today.

Since the consultation closed, we have continued to engage widely with stakeholders in the heat in buildings sector. Over the summer, I hosted a series of round tables with consumer groups, energy stakeholders, businesses and others. Last week, I held a round table with representatives of energy consumer organisations, at which we discussed both the need to decarbonise and the fact that it is essential that that is done in a way that people can afford and that does not exacerbate fuel poverty. All of that will continue as we take forward the programme.

Payments have now commenced and will be made in batches over the coming weeks, with the first pension age winter heating payments having reached bank accounts last week. Through that programme, we are delivering real support to pensioners across Scotland, to the tune of about £157 million, which is helping approximately 880,000 pensioners to stay warm in the coldest months.

It is worth noting that, unlike in the rest of the UK, eligible low-income households across Scotland, including pensioner households, are also guaranteed support through our winter heating payment. We expect those payments to begin in early December.

I welcome the ECCI report, which demonstrates the economic importance of heat networks. The Government is very seized of their importance and part 3 of the draft bill is entirely dedicated to that area.

Across Scotland, we estimate that heat networks could account for around 20 per cent of heat demand in the future. Those networks will be a key technology as part of the mix of decarbonisation options that we foresee for Scotland. The member will know that, through our heat networks fund, we are supporting the deployment of heat networks across Scotland. That is not something that has to await primary legislation. Again, I draw Parliament’s attention to the extension of our loan and grant scheme for connections to heat networks, particularly in rural areas, which I announced in my statement.

Yes, I agree entirely with Kevin Stewart. I have mentioned a couple of times today the investment that we have made and the number of households that that has helped, but it is also worth putting on the record that, so far in 2025-26, the average fuel bill savings across all the completed applications to our loan and grant scheme are approximately £350 a year. That is helpful, but it will represent a drop in the ocean for the households that have seen their energy bills spiral year after year, while successive UK Governments have utterly failed to get a grip of the situation.

Kevin Stewart is quite right to remind the chamber that the UK Labour Party came to power promising a reduction in energy bills of £300 and that, so far, bills have gone up by nearly £200. Therefore, I urge it to take on the social tariff modelling that we have produced, understand the impact that it could have on taking people out of extreme fuel poverty and fuel poverty, and join me in calling strongly for its adoption across the UK.

That is quite unnecessary rhetoric from Willie Rennie—not for the first time. [Interruption.]

“Irony” is an interesting word for Mark Griffin to choose to put to me today, given that the entire reason that I have had to bring the statement to Parliament is because of the complete failure of his colleagues in the British Labour Party and the UK Government to clarify their position in respect of the warm homes plan. [Interruption.]

I am sorry if I have picked up Alexander Stewart incorrectly, but I think that he was referring to exemptions from what would be proposed in the bill. The bill is intentionally drafted to offer flexibility in the type of technology. I note that technology will advance in the years to 2045, and we are conscious that different technologies will suit different housing types across urban and rural Scotland. I therefore trust that, when the bill is taken forward, depending on what happens in the election and what the UK Government does with the cost of electricity, Alexander Stewart will see that flexibility being borne out.

In an energy-rich nation such as Scotland, nobody should be struggling to pay their bills; however, that continues to be the reality for far too many, as successive United Kingdom Governments fail to get a grip on spiralling energy costs. Indeed, the Labour Government came to power promising to reduce average bills by £300, but in just over a year they have risen by nearly £200 more.

We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to introduce a social tariff to address unaffordable bills at source. Our proposals for targeted discounts would see estimated fuel bills reduce by an average of £700 and lift around 135,000 households out of fuel poverty. In the meantime, the Scottish Government continues to use the powers that are available to us to raise incomes and to improve energy efficiency, including by increasing funding for Warmer Homes Scotland, investing around £196 million in our suite of winter heating payments this year and providing a further £1 million to support advice services to help people who are struggling with energy debt. That spending is part of a package of nearly £17 million.

Given the technical nature of Maurice Golden’s question, I think that I would be much more able to put the detail to him in writing, as opposed to in the Parliament today.