Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of households that do not have central heating, broken down by age for those over (a) 67, (b) 70 and (c) 75.
The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. Within this it records if a dwelling has the presence of full or partial central heating. The percentage and total number of dwellings without full or partial central heating, broken down by age band of occupants, from the 2024 SHCS, is presented in table 1.
Table 1: Number, and percentage of, dwelling without full or partial central heating broken down by occupant age band, 2024
Age bands of occupants | Total number of dwellings (000's) | % without full or partial central heating | Number without full or partial central heating (000's) |
Dwellings with 1 or more members age 67 or above | 879 | 1.8% | 16 |
Dwellings with 1 or more members age 70 or above | 738 | 1.7% | 12 |
Dwellings with 1 or more members age 75 or above | 507 | 1.9% | 9 |
Notes
1.Source Scottish House Condition Survey 2024.
2.The SHCS is a sample survey and therefore all figures are estimates which lie at the midpoint of a confidence interval which depends primarily on sample size.
3.Age bands are inclusive of successive age bands. For example, all dwellings with a member over 67 will also include dwellings with a member 70 or older and 75 or above.
4.Full central heating is defined as: The whole dwelling, or rooms representing more than 50% of the floor area of dwelling, is heated from the main heating system. Partial central heating is recorded in cases where houses are large, and the system is only installed in part of the house or there is no possibility of drift heat spreading through the house. Flats are recorded as partial central heating if heating is installed for less than 50% of the floor area.