Chamber and committees

Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) engages in firewood sales on a local basis. Firewood is either made available at the side of the forest road or a scavenging permit is issued. This allows the holder to enter the forest and remove as much wood as they can reclaim from an agreed area.

The administration involved in generating scavenging permissions is significant, involving both the production of a permission (a form of contract) and associated maps. In addition, staff must meet with potential permit holders on site, in order to ensure all relevant health and safety legislation is being complied with.

A recent review noted that the length and cost of scavenging permits was not consistent across the country. In addition, the combination of increased administrative requirements and the associated health and safety risks has meant some districts do not offer scavenging permits for firewood.

Where scavenging is allowed, permits have been standardised at a level which allows cost recovery, whilst still offering the purchaser a substantial saving over commercial rates currently being charged for firewood. Setting the length of the permits to three months was thought to be most appropriate, as it allows flexibility for the purchaser and ensures that the cost outlay, per permit, is not prohibitive.

The new rates effective from August 2008 are:

£50.00 for three months including Vat for scavenging permit;

£20 per tonne for softwood firewood at roadside including VAT, and

£35 per tonne for hardwood firewood at roadside including VAT.

The Scottish Government announced on 1 October 2008 that it considered the Bull Hire Scheme to be unsustainable in its present form and would end it by the summer of 2009, with the resources presently allocated to the Bull Hire Scheme remaining within crofting. It proposes to replace the scheme with new arrangements designed to facilitate private bull hire and to support community ownership in remote areas where the costs of transport or overwintering might otherwise prove prohibitive for crofting communities.

The future of the farm land is still under consideration.

No such meetings have taken place.

Information on the resources committed through the Warm Deal programme and the public sector central heating programme is not collected by heating fuel type.

However, the information requested covering the central heating programme in the private sector is available and is shown in the following table.

Period	Number of Oil Systems Installed	Average grant cost (£)	Total Cost (£)
2001-02	107	3,609	386,193
2002-03	564	3,923	2,212,672
2003-04	1,585	4,478	7,098,785
2004-05	2,055	5,057	10,393,454
2005-06	1,785	5,002	8,929,373
2006-07 >4	757	4,990	3,777,454
2007-08	695	5,235	3,638,325
2008-09 >3	119	5,219	621,061
Total	7,667	N/A	37,057,317

Notes:

1. All figures shown exclude managing agent fees and VAT, at 5% for grant measures.

2. The information includes all the insulation costs associated with each central heating installation.

3. The information provided for 2008-09 is to the end of August. As the central heating programme is a demand led scheme no accurate figure is available for the projected spend on oil systems until the end of 2008.

4. The managing agent contract transferred from Eaga Partnership to Scottish Gas during 2006-07, so the figure for 2006-07 includes installations undertaken by both.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) collects this data, but only for the years 2002, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 of the last five years. As the data is from a survey, all figures are estimates. The SHCS estimates of the count and percentage of people in households which use heating oil or not by whether they are in fuel poverty or not is shown in the following table:

Heating Oil	Estimated count		Estimated %
Year	Not in Fuel Poverty	In Fuel Poverty	Not in Fuel Poverty	In Fuel Poverty
2002	210,000	40,000	84	16
2003-04	239,000	54,000	82	18
2004-05	295,000	75,000	80	20
2005-06	246,000	101,000	71	29

 

Other Fuels	Estimated Count		Estimated %
Year	Not in Fuel Poverty	In Fuel Poverty	Not in Fuel Poverty	In Fuel Poverty
2002	4,320,000	466,000	90	10
2003-04	4,386,000	552,000	89	11
2004-05	4,167,000	663,000	86	14
2005-06	4,032,000	858,000	82	18

 

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has operated management schemes for Mull, Skye and Lochaber in connection with the sea eagle reintroduction programme. The Skye and Lochaber scheme continues until 2011. I am aware of the concerns expressed by some farmers and crofters about losses of stock due to sea eagle predation and have asked SNH to provide me with advice on the matter after they have consulted the community.

I will write to the member as soon as an assessment of that advice has been completed and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46678).

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-16276 on 25 September 2008. 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/webappwa.search.

Ministers are publishing their response to the final report of the Committee of Inquiry into Crofting today, 1 October, including a response to the Committee''s recommendation on the future of the Bull Hire Scheme. The Minister for Environment will also make a statement to Parliament on the response.

The previous LPG grant scheme was introduced as a means of reducing CO₂ emissions from cars. The scheme was set up to contribute towards the cost of converting vehicles to enable the use of LPG, at a time when LPG offered clear CO₂ reductions in comparison with conventional fuel. However, the scheme ceased in 2006 and we now know that as a result of improvements in the efficiency of conventional engine technology, LPG no longer offers CO₂ reduction benefits on the same scale.

While the price of LPG may seem attractive in light of increases in the cost of fuel, LPG is a less efficient fuel and LPG vehicles use more litres of fuel per kilometre and depending on a range of other factors e.g. driving style, may offer little benefit. This is reflected in the fact that no manufacturer now produces LPG vehicles. In terms of conversion, estimated costs range from c£1,800 to £3,400, depending on engine size and the type of tanks fitted. It is therefore unlikely that the benefits of a new LPG grant scheme would outweigh the cost and in addition, any such scheme would be subject to state aid rules.

However, individual drivers can make use of a zero-cost means of increasing the fuel efficiency of their vehicles. Eco-driving techniques can demonstrate savings of around 15% per year. Advice on this can be found on the Energy Saving Trust website:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/what_can_i_do_today/smarter_driving.

Finally, Scottish Government remains concerned about recent rise in fuel prices and recognises the impact this has across the economy and on individuals. As a result, we have held discussions with the energy supply companies urging them to give the maximum assistance to those in fuel poverty and called for a delay in the planned rise in fuel duty in October, which has since been announced. We have also announced additional help such as the development of an action plan for the fishing industry to adapt to rising fuel prices, and will continue to act where necessary.

We have been informed by the supplier of the e-petitions system that difficulties have arisen with the e-petition system due to problems with the hardware that runs the system. Part of this is due to the overwhelming volume of traffic being experienced on the system.

These difficulties have resulted in performance issues which have meant that in order to keep the main part of the system running, the discussion forum has been disabled on a temporary basis.

A technical solution has been identified by the supplier and discussions are taking place on the supply, cost and timeframe for implementation of the solution which will see full functionality restored as quickly as possible.