Chamber and committees

Energy performance certificates (EPCs) are required for new construction and on sale or rental, not conversion. An EPC could be produced using full SAP as enhanced information for building owners and tenants, in addition to the reduced data SAP EPC that follows the government approved methodology for the calculation and lodgement of EPCs for existing buildings. Use of full SAP may involve a disproportionate amount of data collection work if used for existing buildings. A facility to export data from an EPC produced using SAP to the Home Energy Efficiency Database does not exist.

A similar approach to that adopted for dwellings is being carefully considered. This will allow a body (Keeper of the Register) access to information to target those buildings with the poorest ratings.

The submission of an energy performance certificate (EPC) for new dwellings calculated using the UK Government''s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) forms part of the building warrant completion certificate process. The maintenance of such records is set out in section 24 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 which requires every local authority to keep a Building Standards Register. The HEED database and the government''s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) approved software do not allow the automated uploading of data.

The requirement to provide an EPC for an existing building sits outwith the building warrant process. Proposals in relation to the use of UK calculation tools and retention of information on a database were subject to a consultation exercise undertaken in 2006. Both proposals received widespread support.

No decision has been taken in relation to the registration of such certificates.

New buildings are required to meet the most demanding energy standards in the UK.

There are no plans to require local authorities to provide such an analysis.

There are currently no plans to publish this information.

Responsibility for compliance with legislation lies with the building owner who should consider the transaction situation with specific regard to regulations 3 and 5 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2008.

There is no hard evidence to indicate that this occurs. However, it is clear that an important difference between the EPC regimes is that in Scotland a direct assessment of emissions is given, which is indexed against an absolute scale. In England, the emissions assessment is indexed relative to benchmarks of typical existing buildings.

Research has been commissioned to demonstrate and compare carbon dioxide emission ratings from building types in England and Scotland using the Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM). I anticipate that the research will be published in late 2009.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives.

The local authorities'' duties as verifiers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 are intended to be self financing from the fees received from building warrant submissions. Fees are prescribed by the Building (Scotland) Fees Regulations 2004 and are based on the estimated value of the works covered by the building warrant application.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26802 on 10 September 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.