Chamber and committees

On the member’s first point, introducing the universal benefit to which she refers will, as I said, provide around 812,000 pensioner households with support each winter from an investment of £101 million, although it is clear that a number of pensioners who are not eligible for pension credit or other low-income benefits also require additional support.

On the member’s point about zonal pricing, we recognise that there are trade-offs and complexities in the debate on that subject and are aware that it must be introduced in a way that does not have significant impacts for all market participants. However, as I also said earlier, the current system is not fit for purpose and requires urgent reform.

There has been a consultation on Ofgem’s standing charge option within the price cap. The consultation suggests that any changes will not fix the fundamental issue with the standing charge system. Failing to address the unfair cost of standing charges and overcomplicating bills is perhaps not an effective way of dealing with the ever-increasing debt in the system. It is worth adding that it is doubtful that much of the energy debt will ever be paid.

We welcome Ofgem’s original consultation on standing charges. Many people are continuing to struggle with high energy bills, and standing charges of more than £350 not only contribute to higher levels of fuel poverty; they also undermine energy efficiency improvements. We would look for reform in that area.

The Scottish Government’s attempts to mitigate the worst of the UK Government’s actions in this area have brought 800,000 people within the benefit of our scheme, so I do not feel any need to apologise about that.

It is worth saying that no Scottish Government can ultimately mitigate every act of vandalism that the UK Government performs against Scotland, but we do our best in the areas where we feel we have the resource and where we wish to prioritise it.

As I said a moment ago, I would not attempt to take away from the important international events to which the member refers, not least the illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, not very long ago, the member’s party told us that fuel bills would be coming down by £300.

The member asks what the impact on poorer groups would be, and it is relevant to say that the impacts are aggravated by the winter fuel payments situation that pensioners have faced. As I have mentioned, the Scottish Government is attempting to undo some of that impact as best we can.

I come back to the statistics that I mentioned in my statement. The efforts that the Scottish Government and the wider Scottish body politic are making to bring down fuel poverty are having beneficial effects, but they cannot outweigh a lack of action at the UK level to deal with the fundamental cause, which is the cost of energy.

Despite the significant criticisms that I have made of the UK Government, I have to say that we have had a good conversation and, more than that, good co-operation with the UK Government in attempting to progress the issue. However, as I mentioned, what was significant about our conversations about a social tariff is that people want it to be based on a simple system, not an applications system that, almost by definition excludes the most vulnerable people. They want it to include factors such as income, rurality and benefit entitlement. The most important thing that came through, however, was that the system must not be based on an applications process, because that will simply exclude the very people who need it.

I do not think that we are talking about the creation of new bodies. The member makes an important point about the need to ensure that the competing interests in those areas are brought together as much as possible, that we think about spatial planning and that we bring interested parties to the table. The Scottish Government will continue to do that in the areas within our powers.

I recognise the contribution of Nova Innovation and its pioneering projects in the development and deployment of tidal energy and the benefits that go with that, both economically and environmentally, across the country. The Scottish Government would certainly welcome a meeting. I am very happy to arrange such a meeting and to be part of it, and I can confirm that officials also met Simon Forrest, the chief executive of Nova Innovation, recently.

We are committed to securing warmer, greener and cheaper heating for everyone in Scotland. A move towards cleaner fuels must take place as part of a just transition, to ensure that no one is left in fuel poverty. We will review the evidence on the potential impacts of taking forward a ban on the sale of house coal on fuel supplies and costs in rural and islands communities, where many people still rely on coal for heating their homes.

The Scottish Government continues to work with key partners, including Historic Environment Scotland, to enable the best solutions to transition Scotland’s traditional buildings to be more energy efficient and to use clean heating systems while being sympathetic to their character and features.

In 2025-26, we are investing more than £300 million in heat and energy efficiency programmes, including for traditional properties. We are considering how we can provide for more bespoke assessment of the technically suitable energy efficiency and clean heating measures that are available for owners of traditional buildings.

The member is right to say that environmental and economic benefits go together. We will ensure co-ordinated action across the green industry strategic priority areas to maximise positive economic outcomes. We have invested significantly in Scotland’s manufacturing support infrastructure, including an investment of just under £75 million in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the development of regional and sectoral facilities that are focused on improving the knowledge and skill sets that will be needed by the workforce.

Our “Offshore Wind Focus” paper identifies the priority areas for supply chain and infrastructure investment in Scotland’s offshore wind sector and underpins the Government’s approach to delivering a strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years.