Chamber and committees

Where appropriate, applicants to the Energy Assistance Package are offered a benefits check. By the end of November, 553 older households had been helped by the pension service to increase their annual income, by an average of £921. One hundred and forty eight families have had a benefit check by Citizens Advice Direct, which identified a potential increase to their annual income by an average of £2,311. It is not possible to analyse this by fuel type because the beneficiaries are not identified to the Energy Savings Trust, due to data protection considerations.

Of the households taking up offers of help under the Energy Assistance Package, 1.7% identified their main heating fuel as either bulk liquid petroleum gas or bottled gas and 6.1% use oil. Of the households helped, 7.3% did not identify their main heating fuel and it is possible that some use LPG or oil.

The following table shows the numbers of people enquiring about the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) and those helped under the EAP, analysed by fuel type, up to 16 December 2009.

Main Heating Fuel		Number of Households
		Enquiring About EAP	Taking up Offers of Help
Mains gas		18,545	18,143
Electricity		8,154	7,999
Oil		1,989	1,934
LPG	Bulk LPG	505	477
	Bottled gas (cylinders)	54	52
Solid fuel	Wood	133	131
	Smokeless fuel	109	103
	House coal	568	559
	Anthracite nuts/grains	62	59
No Value		4,175	2,302
Grand Total		34,294	31,759

 

One hundred and forty-two callers who used LPG as their main fuel for heating were referred to stage 4 by the end of November. Of these, 29 had been installed and 76 further jobs were being progressed. Nineteen were rejected as not being eligible; of these 14 were rejected because the applicant was unable to provide satisfactory documentation of eligibility to support the application, two were not in receipt of qualifying benefits, one had stayed for less than one year at the property and two houses were not energy inefficient dwellings. Eighteen applications were cancelled for reasons including the applicant not wanting the upheaval, being no longer interested and moving home. Please note that LPG was not available under the Central Heating Programme, but replacement systems are allowed under the Energy Assistance Package.

Applicants to the Energy Assistance Package are offered energy savings advice, no matter what type of fuel is used for heating. Following an initial check on eligibility, applicants may be referred to survey for stage 3 or stage 4 measures. Stage 3 comprises loft insulation and cavity wall insulation; stage 4 offers a range of measures including insulation, draughtproofing and heating systems. Again, such measures are offered no matter what type of fuel is used for heating.

Applicants are also offered benefit checks, which can contribute significantly to reducing fuel poverty by increasing income. By the end of November, 553 older households had been helped by the pension service to increase their annual income, by an average of £921. One hundred and forty eight families have had a benefit check by Citizens Advice Direct which identified a potential increase to their annual income by an average of £2,311.

I have invited the fuel suppliers to discuss the voluntary development of social tariffs for LPG and oil. It is our intention that if such tariffs can be developed, people will be able ask for a referral to check their eligibility by calling the Energy Assistance Package on 0800 512 012.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29121 on 1 December 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx. answe

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on options for improving the energy efficiency of housing, including housing in the private rented sector, through its consultation on the Energy Efficiency Action Plan. These include options for setting regulatory requirements for energy efficiency standards in housing, including that in the private rented sector. The deadline for responses to the consultation was 5 January 2010.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust are currently discussing the housing trust proposals further with local authorities and COSLA. The timetable for any further development of the proposals will be informed by these discussions and the time needed for local authority partners to consider them.

The meetings held with stakeholders (such as COSLA, local authorities, the Scottish Futures Trust, lenders, developers, housing associations, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and insolvency practitioners) to discuss proposals for a housing trust model were held in confidence and in some cases discussed information of a commercially sensitive nature. The Scottish Government has provided the same public information to all stakeholders and to Parliament by publishing background information on the proposals (Bib. number 49829 and 49830 in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre). Provision of information around stakeholders exploring the housing trust model could impact on their willingness to engage in future discussions or to become involved in the model. It might also negatively affect the value for taxpayers'' money which could be achieved through open public procurement.

As part of the exploratory work by the Scottish Futures Trust, the local authorities listed below were approached informally regarding the development of a National Housing Trust. This was to seek their initial views in order to gauge whether or not there was likely to be local authority interest and whether a viable business case could be made for the model. Local authorities were selected on the basis of falling into one or more of four broad categories:

Councils where there was likely to be demand for mid-market rent housing;

Councils facing particular challenges in meeting their homelessness targets;

Councils who had already expressed an interest in this type of innovative model, and

Other Councils suggested by housing officials working in that region.

The local authorities marked with an asterisk below expressed interest in looking at the housing trust model in more detail. Two of the 26 councils initially contacted did not provide any response. Most others who did not express any interest did not provide detailed reasons, but noted that they did not feel the model would be suitable in their area. Where councils did provide reasons these focussed on: there being little or no suitable mothballed private housing sites in their area; mid-market rent housing not being a priority for their council or concerns about the need to borrow funds from the Public Works Loan Board.

COSLA has since been consulting all Scottish councils to confirm which councils wish to be involved in further discussions on the housing trust proposals.

Aberdeen*

Aberdeenshire*

Angus*

City of Edinburgh*

Clackmannanshire

Dumfries and Galloway

Dundee City*

East Dunbartonshire

East Lothian*

East Renfrewshire*

Eilean Siar

Falkirk*

Fife*

Glasgow*

Highland*

Midlothian*

Moray*

North Lanarkshire*

Orkney Islands

Perth and Kinross*

Renfrewshire*

Scottish Borders

Shetland Islands

South Lanarkshire*

Stirling*

West Lothian.