Chamber and committees

The home heating support fund is delivered on our behalf by Advice Direct Scotland. It reopened at the end of last year with funding that was provided from our fuel insecurity fund. Since then, it has been successfully helping households that are at risk of severely rationing their energy use or of self-disconnecting entirely. Although figures are still being collated, the provisional figures show that more than 7,300 applications for support had been received by 11 April.

The fund will continue to offer households support through the current financial year, thanks to the additional £10 million funding that we recently announced for the fuel insecurity fund.

I very strongly agree that action must be taken and that a short-term cut to VAT on energy fuels, among a range of other measures, would be one way of providing short-term relief for households that are faced with the huge increase—resulting from the price cap that has just come into effect—which we expect will get worse later this year.

We first suggested such a cut in VAT back in January. My colleagues, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, both reiterated the request when they wrote to their United Kingdom Government counterparts last month. We have proposed a range of other actions to address the cost of living crisis, some of which sit with the UK Government and some of which, as discussed, we have already implemented in Scotland through our devolved powers.

For some time, we have been pressing for an end to VAT on energy-saving measures, which would increase uptake of those products. It is good that the UK Government has finally recognised the merits of that policy. We also continue to urge it to commit to rebalancing the policy cost element of energy bills in order to reduce the premium that is paid by households that rely on electric heating, and to unlock deployment of low and zero-emissions heating.

Finally, I say that it is astonishing that the UK Government has published an energy security strategy that says absolutely nothing about energy efficiency. I am pleased to say that the Scottish Government continues to make the matter a long-term high priority.

I welcome the tone of the member’s closing remarks, which is unlike the tone of Mr Cole-Hamilton’s speech. Does he acknowledge, though, that there is an immense gap between what the UK Government has been doing, which has made the problems worse, and the actions that the Scottish Government is taking to address the problems? Does he acknowledge that there is that difference and that we are not sitting on our hands in the way that Mr Cole-Hamilton suggested?

I will try to lower the temperature just a little. I believe that every member in the chamber, regardless of their political party or our differences, understands the importance of this topic, and it deserves a serious response. It does not deserve members angrily calling for things that we are already doing or downplaying the actions that we are taking. It does not deserve members angrily calling for actions where they know that our hands are tied and the powers are held at the UK level. Neither does this topic deserve simply refusing to acknowledge the actions that the UK Government has taken, whether that is the national insurance hike, which was not universally welcomed, its long-standing regressive tax system or keeping the minimum wage well below the real living wage. It does not deserve a failure to acknowledge the long-term systemic, structural nature of the crisis that we are facing.

Perhaps if the Conservatives want to bring to the chamber another debate on the meaning of economic growth we can get into that in great detail and I will lay out the reasons why Greens around the world recognise that, on a planet of finite resources, economic growth cannot go on forever and that everlasting economic growth does not meet the needs of the majority of people.

I want to keep the debate on the issues that are before us. Let us look at the reality of the contrasts between Scotland’s two Governments, which many members have described. I contrast a UK Government that introduced the benefit cap with a Scottish Government that is mitigating that cap, even though that should not have to come from within a devolved budget. I contrast a UK Government that has cut universal credit with a Scottish Government that has introduced the game-changing Scottish child payment, doubled it and then committed to increasing it further. I contrast a UK Government that has uprated benefits by significantly less than inflation with a Scottish Government that has uprated them, where we could, by six per cent.

The UK Government has, apparently, put all its eggs in one basket by expanding the oil and gas industry in the middle of a climate emergency and by expanding nuclear power, which is one of the most expensive ways to meet the country’s energy needs. I compare and contrast that with a Scottish Government that invests in energy efficiency and renewables.

There is, of course, much more that we can and will do, and we will continue to seek to do better. However, let us look at the roll-out of free bus travel for the under-22s. I say again—I mentioned this to Finlay Carson—that the policy will help to make services, including those in rural areas, more viable than they have been. Making services more viable is one of the best consequences and side effects of the free bus travel policy. I note that the fair fares review will be taken forward as part of the Bute house agreement to look at the uneven nature of transport costs.

On energy, there is an extraordinary gap between a UK Government that published a UK energy security strategy that did not say one word about demand reduction or about energy efficiency and a Scottish Government that is expanding eligibility for the warmer homes Scotland scheme, increasing grants in area-based schemes and extending home energy efficiency advice. This Government is doing all of that in the context of a £1.8 billion heat in buildings programme and a commitment to establish a public energy agency, which will play a critical role in decarbonising heat and doing so fairly.

On housing costs, the Scottish Government has made commitments on rent controls; we are undertaking our on-going mitigation of the bedroom tax; and we are carrying out the largest affordable house programme in the UK, which is the biggest since the 1970s. On council tax, only two councils have set increases that are above 3 per cent, and all the increases are significantly below inflation.

I will in a moment.

Furthermore, the debate does not deserve defensiveness from this Government. I want to reassure the small number of members who chose to use their time in the debate to put forward positive, constructive ideas instead of simply downplaying what we are doing that we are constantly looking to see, and we will continue to look at, what more we can do beyond the actions that we have taken and that any positive ideas that have been put forward in the debate will be taken seriously.

This Government has a strong track record of addressing the cost of living crisis where we can. We want to do more, we will continue to commit to do more and we look forward to engaging with any members who have positive, workable and constructive proposals to bring.

Our most recent review of the building regulations concludes next month, with the new regulations being implemented this October.

The new regulations will include a significant uplift in fabric standards, will seek to reduce heating demand and will support the effective use of renewable technologies, and they will also future proof heating in new homes against the proposed 2024 new-build heat standard.

We are already working with industry to support delivery of those changes and to investigate further improvement.

Brian Whittle: The minister will be aware that the construction of energy-efficient and energy-generating homes has significant cost implications. As the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee heard yesterday, there is already a shortage of tradesmen and women to deal with the current demand on housing.

How does the Government propose to fund the new energy-efficient and energy-generating housing? Where will the funding that is needed for the training and upskilling of the construction workforce that is required come from?

Patrick Harvie: Part of the answer lies in the public investment of at least £1.8 billion over the course of the current parliamentary session to support accelerated deployment of heat and energy efficiency measures. That is on top of the support that is provided for the Scottish Government’s affordable housing supply programme, which involves working with the social housing sector.

We recognise that the challenge will go beyond what the public sector can provide. The green heat finance task force is already meeting to explore the widest possible range of solutions to provide the considerable investment that will be needed over the coming decades to meet the urgent and necessary challenge that we face.

I very much appreciate the frustration that many people have with the lack of clarity. Clarity is needed. However, it is the UK Government that has refused to confirm the design of the ECO4 scheme. Even though that scheme is due to come into force in April, we do not anticipate seeing the regulations that will be laid to define it until April.

Some of the changes that were signalled in the UK Government’s response to the public consultation appear to be based on the English definition of fuel poverty. That might limit the number of eligible Scottish properties.

For clarity, let me say that we have known for a long time that this change was coming. In February 2021, the Scottish Government proposed combining the warm home discount and ECO schemes into a single more flexible fuel poverty scheme in Scotland. Scottish ministers wrote to their UK counterparts in June, in October and in December to ask whether that approach would be acceptable to the UK Government, and we have still not had an answer from it one way or the other.

The energy company obligation is a UK Government scheme. Although the ECO4 scheme is scheduled to begin in April 2022, the design of the scheme has not been confirmed by the UK Government.

Since June last year, we have repeatedly attempted to engage with UK ministers on the future of the warm home discount scheme and ECO, but our approaches have not been answered. I would welcome a meeting with UK Government ministers to discuss how ECO can better tackle fuel poverty and deliver a just transition in Scotland.