Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has been informed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that there are currently no plans to review the opening hours of the West Dunbartonshire Sexual Health Hub at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21692 on 1 April 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.

The £3.6 million allocated to Energy Savings Trust to manage the Energy Assistance Package is drawn down monthly on a flat profile therefore £1.545 million has been spent to end August.

Citizens Advice Direct has received funding of £40,000 from a total annual grant of £80,000 to provide income maximisation checks under EAP as part of a wider programme of financial inclusion activity.

£2.5 million has been allocated to local authorities and RSLs to deliver insulation measures in social sector accommodation. Spend against this budget is historically drawn down in the third and fourth quarters of the financial year.

Spend to date against the £44.5 million for stage 4 and legacy fuel poverty programme measures is £10.2 million. This is in line with the expected profile as spend on installation measures is traditionally weighted towards the last two quarters of the financial year.

A review of the low income, low assets (LILA) route into bankruptcy after one year of operation is currently being conducted by the Accountant in Bankruptcy and a report will be published by the end of September 2009.

The £100 application fee is payable by all debtors who apply for bankruptcy not just those who demonstrate eligibility by virtue of the LILA criteria. The fee is intended to meet the administration costs associated with the award process. We do not expect the review to produce evidence to support the abolition of the debtor application fee. If there were no fee, the administration costs would otherwise have to be borne by the public purse.

By definition, LILA allows for assets of low value only. The amendment of the LILA criteria to allow access through this route to homeowners would result in increased costs for debtors, and for the Accountant in Bankruptcy, to establish that there was little or no equity in the home.

We are looking at alternatives to allow access to bankruptcy for a wider group of people by way of a certificated route. This will allow homeowners access to bankruptcy if they consider this is the best course of action for them.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Contact details for each of the bodies subject to the Scottish Government''s Public Sector Pay Policy are as follows:

The Scottish Government and its associated departments: www.scotland.gov.uk;

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service: www.copfs.gov.uk, and

Executive Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Public Corporations “ contact details for each body can be found on the Government''s Public Bodies website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Links.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Contact details for each of the bodies subject to the Scottish Government''s Public Sector Pay Policy are as follows:

The Scottish Government and its associated departments: www.scotland.gov.uk;

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service: www.copfs.gov.uk, and

Executive Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Public Corporations “contact details for each body can be found on the Government''s Public Bodies website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Links.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Contact details for each of the bodies subject to the Scottish Government''s Public Sector Pay Policy are as follows:

The Scottish Government and its associated departments: www.scotland.gov.uk;

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service: www.copfs.gov.uk, and

Executive Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Public Corporations “ contact details for each body can be found on the Government''s Public Bodies website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Links.

The purpose of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) is to rate the energy efficiency and environmental impact of a particular dwelling and recommend cost effective ways to improve the energy performance of that dwelling. They are a labelling system to allow prospective buyers and tenants to compare the energy efficiency of different properties.

Fuel poverty levels are based on the ratio of household income required to heat a dwelling to a standard heating regime. A ratio above 10% means that a household is considered to be fuel poor. EPCs do not provide the energy costs nor the income level of the household resident in the dwelling and so cannot be used to measure fuel poverty.

Energy Saving Trust (EST) has developed and is managing a campaign to raise awareness of the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) among fuel poor households and their influencers. Since April 2009 a number of initiatives have been underway such as direct mailings, health centre promotions, PR, print advertising and radio. An integrated campaign based on customer insight will be launched in September and will go out via television advertising, partnerships and direct mail. Information about the package is also available online at www.energyassistancepackage.com and has been sent to all MSPs.

Sufficient resources are in place to meet the call volumes anticipated under the Energy Assistance Package with the Energy Saving Trust having recruited and trained many new advisors to work on the Package. One of the strengths of delivering EAP through the EST advice network is the availability of trained advisors who can handle the wide variety of energy advice calls to the network; this arrangement provides flexibility at times of high demand. Reflecting this combination of investment and flexibility the advice network has responded successfully to recent direct mail activity which resulted in a doubling of call volumes to the 0800 number for the package.

The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. The individual surveyors and installers through which the managing agent delivers these are appointed following a tendering process which is open to all competent suppliers and is consistent with EU procurement rules.

The Energy Saving Trust, as the Scottish Government''s managing agent for the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) is currently carrying out a procurement exercise to appoint the supplier offering the best deal for HIS customers in a given area. This will be an open and competitive process in order to obtain the most economically advantageous tender and reflect EU procedures and regulations. It will be the responsibility of each supplier, when appointed, to enter into contracts as they see fit to ensure that the required skills are available to ensure installation of appropriate insulation measures in each area.

Indicative targets set for the Energy Savings Trust were to achieve 75,000 individual contacts for the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10. Targets for the number of households were not specified.