Chamber and committees

I have asked JamesHynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response isas follows:

The managingagent has indicated that, between January and March 2007 the average waiting timewas four to five months and between September and November 2007 the average waitingtime was five to six months.

The Scottish Governmentcurrently only records the CO₂ emissions relating to the energy use atthe buildings on it’s core estate. The emissions during 2006-07 in respect of thosebuildings in which over 100 people are employed are as follows:

Building	CO2 Relative to Energy Use1 (Tonnes)
Victoria Quay	2,256.51
Saughton House	2,106.68
St Andrew’s House	1,142.69
Pentland House	621.82
Meridian Court	590.78
Europa Building	397.18
Total	7,115.66

Note: 1. Figures calculatedusing total kWh consumption of electricity, gas and fuel oil.

The Scottish Governmentcontinues to demonstrate its support of renewable technologies by procuring 100%of the electricity required to run its buildings from renewable sources. From theabove buildings this was equivalent to around 5,400 tonnes of CO₂.

The information regardingthe environmental performance of agencies is not held centrally. The Scottish Government’sGreener Scotland Directorate is working to ensure that all parts of the public sector,including agencies, establish appropriate environmental management policies, proceduresand targets and provide annual performance reports, which will be published, whenit is available, on the Scottish Government internet.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4254 on 21 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the memberto the answers to questions S3W-6404 on 29 November 2007, and to S3W-425 on 21 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government believes that it willalways be necessary to balance the cost and emission caused by travel againstthe fact that face-to-face meetings are important for good government. Becausethis will inevitably involve ministers and officials in travel, ScottishGovernment has chosen to offset the emissions resulting from its necessarytravel as well as setting targets for reducing travel related carbon emissions.

the Scottish Government will be issuing a consultation in January on proposals for the Climate Change Bill which will include a target ofreducing emissionsby 80% by 2050. The levels of reduction required in each sector have not beendetermined. We believe that we need independent, expert advice on what thetrajectory of emissions reductions should be, because it is important that theprocess under which the trajectory is set is transparent and robust. To thisend, the UK Climate Change Bill makes provision for the devolvedadministrations to seek advice on targets they may set, from the UK Committeeon Climate Change. We plan to use this facility in the short term but  the consultation will seek views on thesignificant issue of how we receive such advice in the longer term, once our Climate Change Bill is commenced.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-6404 on 29 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Governmenthas issued guidance to the wider Scottish public sector on how, and under what circumstances,social and environmental criteria can be specified in public contracts. All guidanceon green procurement can be found on the Scottish Procurement Directorate’s website:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/PublicProcurement/ProcurementPolicy/coporate-responsibility.

The Government Car Service (GCS) was responsible for 6.8% (195 tonnesof CO₂) of the emissions attributed to business travel by the Scottish Government in 2006-07. The majority of this was for ministerial travelbut others are also entitled to use the service. We expect the 2007-08 figureto be not dissimilar although travel patterns are yet to fully stabilise.

There is nospecific target for the carbon emissions of the GCS in isolation, as theservice is included within overall travel targets. The present targets were publishedin the 2005-06 Scottish Government environmental report and updated targets willbe published when the 2006-07 report is published in December.

We act to reducethe carbon footprint of the service wherever practicable. As a consequence, wehave introduced four hybrid cars to the fleet and the diesel Volvos recentlypurchased for GCS emit 12% less CO₂ per kilometre than the dual fuel(petrol/LPG) models they are replacing.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4254 on 21 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.