Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to continue to grow the community and local energy sector and ensure the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland.

On 17 October the Scottish Government signed a Joint Vision Statement with the UK Government which set out a commitment to work together to explore opportunities for GB Energy to support community and local energy in Scotland. This includes considering the role of the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

In line with this Vision Statement, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government to explore opportunities, including for local authorities in Scotland, offered by the Local Power Plan. The Scottish Government looks forward to working with local authorities to ensure that opportunities arising from the Local Power Plan are maximised for local communities.

The Risk Management committee includes a mix of procurement, financial and energy personnel from the following organisations – Scottish Government, Scottish Prison Service, Police Scotland, University of Edinburgh, Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges, Glasgow Clyde College, Inverclyde Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Argyll and Bute Council, NHS National Services Scotland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The generation mix of electricity for the Framework is not dictated by the Risk Management Committee, this would be something which is decided by the supplier with regards to their own generation mix, therefore no information or conclusions can be published about other supply mixes.

Ultimately, the generation mix for the electricity framework is sourced from the National Grid.

Any community energy used/used in future would be out-with the framework.

The national electricity framework covers circa 300 organisations across Scotland, covering all sectors – Local Government, Central Government, NHS, Universities and colleges. Any energy supplier needs to have the capacity to supply and service all organisations by providing the ability to pre-purchase electricity and also provide a billing service.

The mix of energy used is the suppliers decision, the energy mix cannot be decided by Scottish Procurement.

The community energy element was not raised as a requirement in the scoping of the procurement strategy which is developed by the framework users, who are representatives from across the public sector.

The strategy for the provision of electricity under the national framework agreement was developed and agreed in partnership with the User Intelligence Group (UIG). The UIG consists of representatives from across the public sector and they define the core purpose of the procurement and set out the key deliverables. In this case the core requirement was that the provider should be capable of delivering electricity supply and service to over 300 customers. Continuity of supply is a critical element and taking into account the requirement and the risks associated with supply, the UIG agreed that the framework should be tendered as a single supplier agreement. The energy supplier must have the capacity to supply and service all organisations by providing the ability to prepurchase electricity and also provide a billing service.

If a framework customer wishes to source certified renewable supplies, then they could do this. However any agreement between a customer and an additional supplier would be out-with the framework and its terms.

Local authorities are able to build and generate their own electricity supply. Any local authority considering the option to build and generate their own electricity supply should advise Scottish Procurement and the Supplier once they have committed to the decision to build and generate electricity supplies, as they will be reducing the volumes that they require from the national framework.

If a local authority wanted to sell or sleeve their independent electricity supply to the wider marketplace, this would be their commercial decision, and any agreement would be out-with the national electricity framework.

Only a Single Building Assessment meeting the Scottish Standards can identify what cladding if any a building has and further identify whether the cladding is unsafe.

There are 107 entries in the pilot phase of the Cladding Remediation Programme. Entries may comprise a single block or building or a development or part of a development consisting of multiple blocks or buildings. Regional data is proactively published on gov.scot.

Developers homeowners or other organisations may have commissioned assessments without informing the Scottish Government, Therefore the true number may be higher and could increase as further information becomes available.

To respect the privacy of residents and homeowners we do not disclose the names of individual buildings or developments. The total entries in the pilot phase is 107, of which 69 entries are in Edinburgh and the Lothian region.

Extract from Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government has been actively assessing the issue of cladding on high-rise buildings across the country. As part of its commitment to ensuring the safety of residents, several steps have been taken to determine the scale and cost of cladding remediation.

1.Building Safety Assessments: A nationwide review of high-rise buildings has been conducted to identify those with potentially unsafe cladding. This includes a comprehensive inventory of buildings affected by materials such as Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) and other types of cladding.

2.Financial Impact Analysis: The Scottish Government has commissioned detailed financial assessments to estimate the overall cost of remediation efforts. This process involves consultation with local authorities, housing associations, and private sector stakeholders to gather data on the number of affected buildings and the potential costs of necessary remedial work.

3.Pilot Project and Funding Allocations: The pilot project has been initiated to address cladding issues, and these have provided initial data on the costs associated with removing and replacing unsafe cladding. Additionally, funding schemes such as the Single Building Assessment Programme have been introduced to support building owners in conducting safety assessments and implementing remediation where necessary.

4.Collaboration with the UK Government: As part of a broader UK-wide effort, the Scottish Government continues to liaise with the UK Government on financial support mechanisms, including potential contributions from developers and building product manufacturers responsible for defective cladding.

We are committed to providing funding to safeguard homeowners and residents by addressing the risk to human life that is (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by a building’s external wall cladding system.

The cumulative spend of the programme to date is £9.0m. Spend of £0.5m was incurred in quarter one 2024-25 to support programme delivery works.

There are currently no imminent plans to make any further amendments to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) system, following the amended Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) regulations which were introduced in November 2021.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders including the local authority sector, Police Scotland and business and active travel representatives to understand any issues that arise from the various road order processes.

In our pilot programme, all 107 pilot entries are undergoing necessary pre-assessment checks, if in scope they will proceed to a developer or Government led Single Building Assessment (SBA). We have identified 12 pilot entries in scope, without a linked developer, and have confirmed that we are commissioning SBAs as a priority. This includes 4 in Edinburgh and 8 in Glasgow.

Information on the level of spend by the Cladding Remediation Programme is proactively published and broken down by local authority.

Latest published data shows the aggregated spend by local authorities on single building assessments, fire risk measures and remediation is just over £9m to the end of quarter one 2024-25; spend is updated quarterly, the next update will be proactively published in quarter three 2024-25. Single Building Assessment programme: spending information (gov.scot).