Chamber and committees

Termination of the previous employment was undertaken by the seller, when they wound down their business and FLS has no knowledge of the costs incurred.

The fact that Forestry and Land Scotland have purchased Glenprosen, along with the price paid, are already in the public domain.

Surveyors cost incurred with the purchase of Glenprosen amount to £6,802.

Legal costs incurred by the purchase of Glenprosen amount to £47,495, inclusive of Registers of Scotland fees.

Neither the Scottish Government nor Forestry and Land Scotland had cause to terminate any contracts and consequently no such payments were made to individuals, contractors or companies.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) purchased Glenprosen Estate for £17,555,000 and incurred legal costs of £47,495 and surveyors cost of £6,802. The total cost of the acquisition was £17,609,297.

It is not the case that the Government plans to remove the need to install solar PV systems on new properties since no such requirement exists. The focus of the New Build Heat Standard is on heating systems which produce direct greenhouse gas emissions at the point of use.

The Scottish Government’s recent consultation set out our intention to prohibit direct emissions heating systems in new buildings from April 2024.

It is our intention for the NBHS to remain technology neutral. Those technologies which do not emit greenhouse gases and can be used as part of a heating system will continue to be permitted. This includes, for example, heat pumps as well as energy generation such as solar PV.

In advance of the emergency legislation we set up a working group with social landlords to help assess the options for rents beyond 31 March and to understand and gather evidence on the impact of the rent cap measures for tenants and the implications for landlord service delivery, business and investment plans. That work is continuing and will inform the first review of the legislation, due to be completed by 14 January 2023. During the passage of the Bill we further committed to giving clarity and certainty to social landlords on rent-setting no later than by the 14 January review point, and to considering all options to keep rents affordable for tenants.

Social landlords have already made substantial investment in energy efficiency to remove poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty and contribute to achieving the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change emissions reductions targets. The independent Scottish Housing Regulator reports that 88% of social homes already meet the first milestone of the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). We are working with landlords to review future EESSH milestones to ensure that they are aligned with climate change targets.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, which launched in August 2020, has been designed to accelerate the delivery of energy efficiency measures and zero emissions heating systems in social housing across Scotland. It will make at least £200 million available to registered social landlords until 2026.

Acknowledging that the public sector alone cannot bear the long-term cost of converting homes, the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has been established to assess and recommend ways the public sector, communities and private finance can collaborate to scale up investment. A dedicated sub-group has been established to consider the best routes to financing and funding the retrofit of the existing social housing stock.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport met with Solar Energy Scotland (SES) in February, with the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth meeting with them in May and myself in September. In addition to ministerial meetings, officials in energy and planning meet with SES and other industry participants regularly. During these ministerial and official meetings a number of points relating to solar have been discussed, including permitted development rights.

Decisions on how the £5 million of loss and damage funding will be allocated are yet to be taken. Decisions will be made on the recommendation of needs assessments and undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and communities. These funds are in addition to the £2 million we announced last year, of which £1.7 million is already on the ground. Funds to date have been allocated through participatory mechanisms with those communities most impacted as well as to funding research on needs assessments and case studies.