- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the threshold is at which a house is considered fuel poor under the terms of the (a) Energy Assistance Package and (b) Scottish Housing Quality Standard.
Answer
A person is considered to be fuel poor if the ratio of household income required to heat their dwelling to a standard heating regime is greater than 10%.
The Energy Assistance Package provides a four stage approach to helping people vulnerable to fuel poverty. Stages one and two include energy efficiency advice, income maximisation and social tariff checks. Stages three and four are targeted at those who are most likely to be fuel poor and offer standard and enhanced physical measures to improve the energy efficiency of the home. Eligibility for stages 3 and 4 is based on a number of factors including age and income of the household and the energy efficiency of the dwelling.
The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) sets out the standard that all homes in the social rented sector are expected to meet, independent of the household characteristics. The standard is based on a number of broad quality criteria, including the presence of certain physical energy efficiency measures. SHQS is not used as a yardstick to determine or measure levels of fuel poverty: the income level and fuel charges faced by the householder are required for this purpose and neither is a factor in the SHQS.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) individuals contacted the Energy Saving Trust for the Energy Assistance Package by the end of August 2009.
Answer
Information on the Energy Assistance Package, including numbers of callers and those receiving assistance at each stage of the package, is available on the Energy Saving Trust website at:
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Scotland/Energy-Assistance-Package/Programme-Statistics.
The latest statistics available cover the period to end July 2009.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether lowest price will determine the appointment of contractors for the delivery of the (a) Energy Assistance Package and (b) Home Insulation Scheme.
Answer
The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. The network of surveyors and installers appointed by the managing agent to deliver these, is appointed following an open tendering processes, consistent with EU procurement rules, based on both quality and price.
Under the Home Insulation Scheme procurement process, suppliers will be appointed on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender and the procurement process will assess a range of relevant factors in order to ensure this.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the threshold for fuel poverty in the Energy Assistance Package should be the same as the measure in the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26896 on 10 September 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.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that existing contractors in different communities across Scotland can contribute to the delivery of the Energy Assistance Package.
Answer
The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. This is achieved through a network of surveyors and installers appointed by the managing agent following an open tendering processes, consistent with EU procurement rules, based on quality and price.
The Scottish Government continues to support the approach taken by the managing agent to secure a wide contractor base capable of meeting the requirements of the service according to the specification provided.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the threshold for fuel poverty in the Scottish Housing Quality Standard is different to that used in the Energy Assistance Package.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26896 on 10 September 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.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating systems were installed, not including legacy central heating programme installations, as part of the Energy Assistance Package by the end of August 2009.
Answer
The managing agent has indicated that 173 central heating systems were installed under the Energy Assistance Package by the end of August.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many legacy Warm Deal applications and legacy central heating programme installations have been carried out following the commencement of the Energy Assistance Package.
Answer
The managing agent has indicated that 3,519 central heating systems and 1,132 Warm Deal installations have taken place between 1 April and the 31 August 2009.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual applications to the Energy Saving Trust for the Energy Assistance Package have resulted in work being allocated to contractors and what percentage this represents of all applications.
Answer
The Energy Assistance Package provides a range of measures to applicants and details of those and the numbers benefiting can be found at:
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Scotland/Energy-Assistance-Package/Programme-Statistics.
The latest statistics available cover the period from April to the end of July.
Of the 1,477 referred to Stage 4 by the end of July, the managing agent has indicated that 1,324 were accepted, subject to survey, and 1,296 of those were allocated to survey. Of those allocated to survey, 21 have subsequently cancelled and 611 have been identified as qualifying for Stage 4 measures.
Of the 611 the managing agent is progressing 349 applications (57%) i.e. awaiting permissions, agreeing specifications etc and 262 applications (43%) have been allocated to a contractor for work to be undertaken.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 9 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25945 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 August 2009, whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing supports patients being able to choose to have IVF treatment where waiting times are shorter, particularly if they are near the upper age limit.
Answer
Disparity in the length of waiting times for IVF across NHS boards in Scotland is due, in part, to differences in criteria and funding being applied across NHS boards which is a long standing problem.
We are funding Infertility Network Scotland to work with NHS boards to fully implement infertility guidance and ensure patients voices are heard in the future provision of this service. In addition, an Expert Group on Infertility Services will shortly be set up and the group will consider how best to ensure equity of access across Scotland.
