Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2302 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-01081

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish details on the warm homes fund.

Question reference: S4W-01073

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has in place to mitigate the impact of the recent energy price increases announced by Scottish Power.

Scottish ministers have expressed their concern over the recent price increases announced by Scottish power and its impact on fuel poverty. In meetings with Scottish Power up to £10 million has been secured for energy efficiency programmes in Scotland. This government’s fuel poverty programmes continue to deliver assistance to vulnerable households. The Energy Assistance Package has grant funded over 20,000 heating installations since April 2009 and improved the annual income of pensioners and families by over £4.2 million. The Home Insulation Scheme and universal Home Insulation Scheme have helped over 500,000 people since November 2009.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance has also issued a letter to Ofgem voicing concern over this alarming trend in utility pricing, especially the impact on vulnerable customers.

Question reference: S4W-01077

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will prioritise installation of central heating systems under the Energy Assistance Package.

Applications under the Energy Assistance Package are normally prioritised by date order, with the exception of vulnerable groups or people who are terminally ill and in possession of a DS1500 certificate. Priority is given to applicants with a supporting letter from a medical consultant or a social worker. Where someone is terminally ill and holds a DS1500 certificate they are automatically fast tracked.

Question reference: S4W-01074

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are likely to fall into fuel poverty following the recent energy price increases announced by Scottish Power.

Question reference: S4W-01072

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how the recent energy price increases announced by Scottish Power will impact on its target for the eradication of fuel poverty by 2016.

Scottish ministers have expressed their concern over recent price increases announced by Scottish Power, both to the Company itself and the regulator, Ofgem. We estimate that up to a further 170,000 households could be placed into fuel poverty if the increase was replicated across all suppliers. Scottish ministers remain committed to the 2016 target but it is extremely challenging in the light of recent energy price increases.

Question reference: S4W-01075

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating systems have been installed under the Energy Assistance Package in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority.

The Energy Assistance Package started in April 2009. The following table is provided by the Managing Agent (Scottish Gas). Figures for 2010-11 are not yet available.

Local Authority	2009-10
Aberdeen City	301
Aberdeenshire	416
Angus	294
Argyll and Bute	253
Clackmannanshire	103
Dumfries and Galloway	516
Dundee City	387
East Ayrshire	217
East Dunbartonshire	247
East Lothian	159
East Renfrewshire	204
Edinburgh, City of	739
Eilean Siar	241
Falkirk	322
Fife	770
Glasgow City	1099
Highland	709
Inverclyde	209
Midlothian	168
Moray	269
North Ayrshire	369
North Lanarkshire	692
Orkney Islands	70
Perth and Kinross	349
Renfrewshire	366
Scottish Borders	235
Shetland Islands	24
South Ayrshire	316
South Lanarkshire	755
Stirling	295
West Dunbartonshire	198
West Lothian	210
Total	11,502

Question reference: S4W-01082

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used when considering applications to the proposed warm homes fund.

Question reference: S4W-01078

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

Question reference: S4W-01083

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when the application process will be available to eligible groups to apply to the proposed warm homes fund.

Question reference: S4W-01080

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated reductions in carbon emissions will be from the Universal Home Insulation Scheme.

Based on the returns made to date by the 27 local authorities who participated in the UHIS programme in 2010-11, the estimates for the amount of reduction in carbon emissions are as follows:

12,989.843 kilotonnes (on an annual basis)

519,071.200 kilotonnes (over the lifetime of the measures, assumed to be 40 years).

These figure will be subject to being adjusted upwards, as the final installations taking place under the programme are completed.

Invitations to local authorities to bid for funding for UHIS in 2011-12 were issued on 1 July 2011, with a submission deadline of 12 August 2011.

For 2011-12, the level of reductions in carbon emissions will be determined by the proposals put forward by local authorities and the grant awards made to them through the UHIS bidding and assessment process, currently underway. It is not possible to estimate for subsequent years, as funding beyond 2011-12 will be a matter for the Spending Review, and subsequent reviews.