Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides funding to local councils through area based schemes to support households to undertake enabling works to prepare for energy efficiency. In 2014-15 fifteen per cent (15%) of the £60 million area based scheme budget is available to councils for enabling works. This can cover the costs of loft clearance and other preparatory work in advance of the installation of energy efficiency measures.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with local authorities, obligated energy companies and other delivery partners to assess the impact of the changes to the energy company obligation (ECO) on the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS).

We will continue to use our HEEPS funding to maximise leverage under ECO and have relaxed the criteria for accessing Scottish Government funding to ensure support for those in fuel poverty continues.

Longer term, we have set out our commitment in Scotland’s Future about what we would do in an independent Scotland. We plan to remove certain obligations from energy bills and maintain current funding levels from central resources.

Scottish Government funding for area based fuel poverty schemes is distributed across all councils in Scotland. £42 million of the £60 million available is allocated on the basis of need which takes into account levels of fuel poverty and reflects the different types of properties within rural areas. This ensures that funding is directed to those areas most in need of assistance, including our rural areas.

This year’s funding will support delivery in off-gas grid areas by providing specific funding to be used to deliver heating and insulation improvements for low-income and vulnerable households who meet the affordable warmth eligibility criteria in off-gas grid properties.

We are also considering how we can use our funding programmes to best meet the needs of off-gas grid households.

We are in regular discussion with the delivery partners for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS), including local councils, to assess the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed changes to the energy company obligation (ECO) on HEEPS and how to mitigate this.

ECO is a UK Government scheme which places legal obligations on energy companies. It operates across England, Scotland and Wales and there is no separate funding allocation for Scotland. Statistics on delivery of ECO over the first nine months of the obligation show that Scotland has received a greater than pro-rata share of the measures funded by energy companies under the obligation across Great Britain.

We do not hold information on the number of households which have received support under the area based element of the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland. We are working with local authorities and other delivery agents to gather this data.

Councils have until September 2014 to install measures funded from the 2013-14 area based schemes programme. Final information on delivery through the area based schemes will therefore not be available until after this date.

However, our area based schemes are designed to work alongside the energy company obligation and, based on quarterly information provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, we know that around 32,000 energy efficiency measures have been installed in Scottish households between January and September 2013.

The Regulation of Energy Efficiency in Private Sector houses working group will make recommendations to Scottish Ministers on draft regulations that would set minimum standards of energy efficiency in existing private sector housing. Draft Regulations are expected to be published for consultation in spring 2015.

Building standards officials are in the process of investigating the fifteen additional recommendations made in the 2013 update of the original 2007 Sullivan Report.

In announcing deferment of the next set of energy standards in building regulations until October 2015, I have already acted upon the first recommendation made by the panel under the ‘Eventual and Staged Standards’ topic.

At this time, the focus of officials and the construction industry has turned to the development of an ‘action plan’ in support of the 2015 standards, referred to in the fifth recommendation under the ‘Eventual and Staged Standards’ topic.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 set a statutory duty on the Scottish Government to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland, as far as reasonably practicable by November 2016. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement was published in August 2002 and last reviewed in November 2010. The next review is planned to be published by the end of 2014.

The recent consultation generated 80 responses and the final report will be published by 14 March 2014. There is currently considerable support for domestic energy efficiency within Scotland, and the structural funds must not duplicate that provision, and either fill gaps or create enhanced support. The provision of home energy efficiency has therefore not been considered the highest priority for the use of the funds. In terms of wider energy support, the 2014-20 programmes will focus primarily on supporting energy initiatives in the non-domestic sector to support SME growth, innovation and the development of the low carbon economy. In addition, an intervention aiming to support active community partnership models and projects is under consideration; this could create opportunities for domestic energy and micro-renewable schemes at a community level.

The Scottish Government is committed to eradicating fuel poverty and is doing everything within its limited powers to achieve this.

Fuel poverty statistics published in December 2013 show a reduction in the number of households living in fuel poverty in Scotland. Between October 2011 and mid 2012 there was a 3.4% drop in fuel poverty, this equates to around 74,000 households, with improved energy efficiency contributing two-thirds of the fall.