Chamber and committees

To be honest, I am not entirely sure whether Miles Briggs thinks that giving 10 years’ notice of the measures coming in is in some way bad for home owners. It is important that we give people clarity to plan and that we give businesses clarity and the timescale in which they can invest. That long-term time horizon will drive up investment in skills, capacity and innovation.

The member should also be aware that the green heat finance task force’s first report, which was published last week, begins to set out some of the innovation that is happening in, for example, financial products, green mortgages and other forms of driving more investment.

The assessment of the overall costs will vary significantly throughout the country and in different building types. Part of the consultation is considering the issues of abeyances and exemptions, to look at different circumstances.

I hope that Miles Briggs and his party colleagues will come to recognise not only that heat transition is necessary, but that investing in it and giving people a long-term time horizon to plan for it will maximise the economic benefits to Scotland and the cost-saving benefits to households in the long run.

We certainly do not discourage people from installing solar—far from it. In fact, no funding for solar was scrapped; the same funding is available. We need to maximise the heat decarbonisation potential of that funding, which is why we changed some of the rules on how people access it.

Just recently, the Scottish Government published a tenfold ambition for expanding the deployment of solar in Scotland. It has huge potential, not just to add renewable energy on to our grid but to ensure that householders, businesses and communities generate some income for themselves to reinvest in the built environment.

I have just seen the first response from the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee. He has responded to our proposals, saying:

“These are bold proposals to decarbonise Scotland’s buildings ... They recognise the importance of a long-term plan ... with a very welcome focus on upgrading properties at the point of sale.”

I very much hope that that spirit of co-operation and constructive engagement will characterise our political debate on the issue over the coming months.

We have engaged actively with colleagues from Denmark, who advised the Government on the shaping and framing of the heat networks legislation in the previous session of Parliament. I have also had the opportunity to visit Denmark to see the continued expansion of heat networks.

It is important to recognise that Denmark has had 50 years of experience in building modern heat networks, which now cover something like two thirds of households there. We do not have 50 years to wait to decarbonise our homes—we need to act more quickly. Heat networks will play an important role, as will individual systems such as heat pumps.

We will continue to be informed by our European partners, including those who are already installing clean heating systems at a significantly faster rate than they did in previous years. We need to learn those lessons and show that Scotland will gain the greatest possible economic benefit from joining that rapid heat transition.

Absolutely. We have also been working with the tenements short-life working group. I had a meeting with the chair only last week to talk about its recommendations.

I have said before and I say again that, as we frame some of the exemptions and abeyances as a result of some of the views that we will hear in the consultation, no one will be at all surprised that traditional tenements might take significantly longer than the rest of the housing stock to adapt. Many of those properties will need to benefit from heat networks rather than individual flat-by-flat heating systems. We will work with the grain of the technology development that is taking place and the recommendations of the short-life working group. As a tenement dweller myself, I understand the challenges, but I know that people—including my constituents and, I imagine, Mr Simpson’s—want the solutions, and that is what the Government is determined to give them.

The member is talking about increases in advertised rents, which are rents for new tenancies. Those have been increasing at comparable levels in other parts of the UK, where tenants also face increases during their tenancies.

The emergency legislation is, by definition, temporary. That is why we have committed to introducing longer-term rent controls in a housing bill that we will bring to Parliament in this parliamentary year. I continue to engage with stakeholders and other colleagues on the shape of that bill. The scale of private rent increases across the UK demonstrates the need for action to tackle rent rises. It is clear from countries across Europe that, where greater regulation of renting and rents is the norm, such regulation can and should go hand in hand with encouraging investment in improving quality and supply.

In addition to our proposals on rent control, we are considering eight policy areas for further rented sector reform, some of which aim to improve the experience of renting and enhance the rights of tenants. That is one of many areas where action is needed in Scotland and in UK policy.

I want to make some progress.

Meeting the cost will be achieved through a mix of public and private investment. That point should be well understood by anyone who has looked carefully at the subject.

I am grateful for the chance to respond to the points that have been raised on the SSI. It is an order that supports our ambition to grow the number and scale of heat networks in Scotland, which are systems that will supply many of us with clean heating in the years ahead.

The Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 requires us to set a target for 2035, but setting that target is not just a legal requirement; it is helpful in and of itself. It will send a clear signal to the heat network sector that the current Government and future Governments are and will remain committed to its growth. The proposed target of 7TWh is evidence based and was developed using data on potential heat network zones. The proposed target is 1TWh greater than the 2030 target that is already set in the legislation, for which the Parliament voted unanimously.

I was pleased that the committee recommended approval of the SSI, although some concerns were raised, which I have to say I answered repeatedly in the committee, although not to the satisfaction of all its members. Perhaps some members decided that my answers would not be to their satisfaction no matter what I said, but let me run through them again.

The need for a credible plan to meet the targets is precisely why we published our heat networks delivery plan in 2022, setting out a range of actions that we are taking to support the sector. We are under a duty to review how that plan is supporting our targets by March next year. We know that we need to move to create more demand for heat networks, and the upcoming heat in buildings consultation will make proposals on that.

There was concern about the potential cost of meeting the targets.

I am afraid that I need to make a bit of progress.

We will press ahead with measures to increase housing supply and will work in partnership to maximise the use of current housing stock. We will introduce new homelessness prevention duties this parliamentary year, which will offer stronger protections than those anywhere else in the UK. We will strengthen rights for tenants and offer greater security from eviction. We will bring forward a new housing rights bill.

I thank all members for taking part in the debate—with a number of notable exceptions. Some members brought to the debate well-reasoned contributions, positive, constructive ideas and an understanding of the causes of the challenges that we face. We should all ask ourselves to reflect on how people who are experiencing significant housing difficulties would view our debate—people who are in temporary accommodation, on housing waiting lists, in homes that are damp or in poor repair and who are struggling to meet housing costs. Mr Griffin and others were right to say that far too many people are still in those situations, and this Government is determined to put that right.

People at the sharp end of those challenges need to hear that determination, but they also need to see action, so I am most grateful to those members whose speeches were focused on solutions. Mr Griffin’s speech, unlike his motion, called for a focus on action. Actions build more homes, make existing homes better and keep costs affordable. That is why the Government’s amendment focuses squarely on action.

The actions that need to be taken are the only things that will make a difference.

Last October, we took emergency action to support people who rent their homes. The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 introduced restrictions on rent rises while a tenant remains in the same tenancy and strengthened protection against evictions. It is perfectly clear that the Conservatives would still rather that we ignored the needs of tenants, but the act has continued to provide important additional protection for tenants across the rented sector. Anywhere else in the UK, private tenants have faced the double impact of unfettered rent rises during and between tenancies. Therefore, I was very pleased when the Parliament voted to approve the regulations that extend the provisions for a further and final six months until March.