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-23686

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22647 by Graeme Dey on 16 November 2023, in light of the targets presented in the Heat in Buildings Bill consultation, whether it will begin to collect data on how many students who have completed energy efficiency qualifications have remained in Scotland and are currently employed within the energy efficiency sector.

As highlighted in the Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework release from 28 November, existing data on further and higher education enrolments and apprenticeship starts may give an indication of the scale of the skills pipeline for the sector, however since educational groupings can be quite broad, there are data limitations. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and post-school learning and training providers to better understand those who complete courses that are relevant to the framework. Destinations data can then be analysed to better understand outcomes for these students.

Question reference: S6W-23672

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what economic modelling it has completed to understand how sectoral skills within recycling services for heat pumps will meet future demand.

Question reference: S6W-23676

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the potential impact that maintenance costs may have on the longevity of green heat systems in low-income households when developing its Heat in Buildings Bill consultation.

Clean heating system maintenance costs will vary depending on factors including the type of system and usage. We are proposing a technology-neutral approach to decarbonising homes across Scotland, with homeowners able to choose the technology which is right for them. We do not expect the cost to households of maintaining a clean heating system to be significantly different from what they would pay for a polluting heating system. The estimated maintenance costs in existing homes in 2020 used by the Climate Change Committee Sixth Carbon Budget, and developed with latest available evidence and input from a range of industry stakeholders, are the same (£100 per year) for both air source heat pumps and gas boilers. Of course many low income households rent their properties through private or social landlords, and while these maintenance costs will be comparable to those living in owner occupied homes, they will typically sit with the landlord.

Question reference: S6W-23684

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22671 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, whether it will consider collecting information on the number of people in Scotland who are qualified to undertake heat loss surveys.

Question reference: S6W-23682

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons a funding offer under the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme would be declined.

Applications to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme can be unsuccessful due to the failure of a credit check. Credit checks are only carried out when an applicant is requesting loan funding.

An application may also be declined if the application fails to meet the conditions of the scheme. For example, if the applicant were to apply to use a non-accredited installer or if the measures applied for were not recommended for their property.

Question reference: S6W-23685

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22648 by Graeme Dey on 16 November 2023, in light of the targets presented in the Heat in Buildings Bill consultation, whether it will begin to collect data on how many students are pursuing energy efficiency qualifications.

As highlighted in the Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework release from 28 November, existing data on further and higher education enrolments and apprenticeship starts may give an indication of the scale of the skills pipeline for the sector, however since educational groupings can be quite broad, there are data limitations. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and post-school learning and training providers to better understand those who enrol on courses that are relevant to the framework.

Question reference: S6W-23658

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on the most recent marketing campaigns for the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme.

Question reference: S6W-23687

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19954 by Patrick Harvie on 9 August 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of the data included in the table by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-23680

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22672 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, what plans it has to “evolve and adapt” these schemes, in light of reports from the industry that current funding for energy efficiency retrofit projects needs to be more flexible and distributed from fewer sources.

Question reference: S6W-23661

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many entities have been named as installers on Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme applications, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b) type of low-carbon heat technology and (c) type of energy efficiency measure.

From the launch of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme in December 2022 to September 2023, 1013 unique installers were listed on applications to the scheme.

The following table shows the number of unique installers that have been listed on applications to the scheme in each local authority area:

Local Authority	Unique Installers
Aberdeen City	71
Aberdeenshire	123
Angus	69
Argyll and Bute	82
City of Edinburgh	189
Clackmannanshire	35
Dumfries and Galloway	100
Dundee City	58
East Ayrshire	50
East Dunbartonshire	63
East Lothian	91
East Renfrewshire	52
Falkirk	66
Fife	149
Glasgow City	119
Highland	123
Inverclyde	32
Midlothian	60
Moray	53
Na h-Eileanan Siar	18
North Ayrshire	56
North Lanarkshire	80
Orkney Islands	15
Perth and Kinross	114
Renfrewshire	60
Scottish Borders	120
Shetland Islands	17
South Ayrshire	48
South Lanarkshire	120
Stirling	93
West Dunbartonshire	28
West Lothian	97

Where an installer has been listed on applications to the scheme in several different local authority areas, they have been counted as a unique installer under each area.

The information requested for type of low-carbon heat technology and type of energy efficiency measures could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.