Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-32212

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what solutions it is exploring to scale up the private finance needed for the clean heat transition.

The Scottish Government has allocated £1.3 billion through its Heat in Building Programmes in this Parliamentary Session, investment it is committed to continuing in 2025-26 with over £300 million capital funding allocated in the draft budget. However, the Scottish Government cannot finance the transition alone and established the independent Green Heat Finance Taskforce with a remit to explore how to attract greater private finance to support the clean heat transition.

The Scottish Government is engaging with lenders and the wider finance sector as it considers the Taskforce’s Part 1 report and, following its Part 2 report, will formally respond identifying which recommendations across both Taskforce reports will be prioritised and how we will take forward action in partnership with others.

Question reference: S6W-32209

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what correspondence it has had with the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero regarding improving the quality of heat networks metering and billing regulations notification data on the clean heat supplied through the heat networks in Scotland.

With the introduction of a new heat network authorisation and consumer protection regime being developed under the Energy Act 2023, my officials have focused their efforts on engaging with the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem regarding the data that will be collected as part of this new regime and the system that will be used to collect it. Ofgem has recently published the Heat networks regulation: authorisation and regulatory oversight consultation which provides details on the registration and monitoring. Both processes will provide valuable data on heat networks.

We expect that the quality of data from the new regime will be significantly better than that submitted as Heat Networks Metering and Billing Regulations 2014 (HNMBR) notifications, for a number of reasons, including that Ofgem is developing a dedicated digital platform so that regulated entities can engage with Ofgem supporting the processes of Registration, Authorisation Application and reporting for monitoring.

The date for heat networks regulation taking effect has been confirmed as 1 April 2025 in the Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 Statutory Instrument (SI) 2025, laid in the UK Parliament on 28 November 2024, with later commencement dates for some of the regulations within the SI.

The Heat networks regulation: authorisation and regulatory oversight consultation can be accessed at the following address: Heat networks regulation: authorisation and regulatory oversight.

Question reference: S6W-32207

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its draft Budget 2025-26, whether it has reached its target of allocating at least £1.8 billion to support the Heat in Buildings programme over the current parliamentary session and, if not, what the allocation is.

Question reference: S6W-32215

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has met since July 2024, and when the next meeting will take place.

Question reference: S6W-32211

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £349.1 million energy efficiency and decarbonisation expenditure announced in its draft Budget 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-32216

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31510 by Alasdair Allan on 28 November 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of the outturn on energy efficiency and decarbonisation for the three-year Budget period of 2021-24.

Question reference: S6W-32213

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what finance mechanisms are being considered by the Green Heat Finance Taskforce to deliver the clean heat transition.

The Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s Part 1 report identified a range of finance mechanisms that could be expanded or developed to support individual property owners finance the upfront costs of installing clean heat and energy efficiency measures. These included approaches to encourage greater secured lending, developing equity release products focused on retrofit and exploring the potential to offer property linked finance in Scotland.

Its Part 2 report will cover financing place-based and social housing retrofit programmes as well as financing of heat networks. The report will focus on how to attract private investment at scale to unlock blended finance opportunities, combining public and private contributions, to deliver coordinated activity across multiple properties.

Question reference: S6F-03643

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-31790

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what action it is taking to ensure that all parts of the parliamentary estate will be able to maintain a reasonable temperature for the wellbeing of staff, during the winter months.

The SPCB can confirm that temperatures will be maintained to allow building users to work comfortably within their specific work areas.

We are aware that the temperature in the building recently was below comfortable levels.

We are currently undertaking a major replacement project for the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) which controls and monitors the heating, ventilation, and cooling throughout the building. The outside temperature had taken a sudden dip; this was the first time the new controls were stress tested. We had expected the building to react more quickly to the drop in temperature; clearly this was not the case. The parameters have now been adjusted to take this into account and a faulty external sensor has been re-calibrated.

Question reference: S6O-04058

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the planned review of Creative Scotland will improve compliance with fair work principles in the culture sector.

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