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-23662

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-22658 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, what economic modelling it has done to ensure that the recycling sector is prepared for the future potential demand of recycling of units and component parts of (a) gas boiler and (b) heat pumps and other clean heat systems.

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-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-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.

Question reference: S6W-23653

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-22629 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, whether it is considering making any changes to its marketing strategy to further raise awareness of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme.

Question reference: S6W-23655

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-22629 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, what demographic data it is using to target its marketing campaign for the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme towards households that are able to consider installing a heat pump, and from what source this data was gathered.

Question reference: S6W-23675

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-22661 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, how it defines “technology-neutral” in the context of its Heat in Buildings policy.

As set out in our consultation on Proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill, the Scottish Government wants buildings across Scotland to be using clean heating systems by 2045. Clean heating systems are systems which do not produce greenhouse gas emissions at the point of use within a building, and the range of technologies would include individual heat pumps, communal clean heating systems within a building, connection to a heat network, smart storage heaters or other electric heating systems, and may also include heat from renewable hydrogen in some areas. Our technology-neutral approach deliberately avoids prescribing the use of one particular type of clean heating system, and instead gives building owners the option to choose whichever system best suits their needs.

We are aware that a limited number of properties may not have suitable clean heating options available to them immediately – for example, as a result of building fabric, construction type or location. We are seeking views in our consultation on what flexibility to provide these properties, and also considering the development of an assessment tool which would help owners understand what types of clean heating systems would be the most suitable for their property.

Question reference: S6W-23660

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 information it holds on the number of energy efficiency businesses that are (a) located and (b) operating in Scotland, and how many of these are SMEs, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-23663

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-22645 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, how it will determine whether the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme has been successful.

The objective of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme is to support the installation of energy efficiency and clean heating measures amongst owner occupiers.

We use a number of metrics to monitor the scheme with particular focus on the number and value of grants and loans paid against the schemes allocated budget.

Our approach to monitoring our delivery schemes is set out in our recently published Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework .

Question reference: S6W-23674

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 progress it has made on the actions outlined in the Heat in Buildings Supply Chains Delivery Plan to date.

We continue to make progress against the actions outlined within the Heat in Buildings Supply Chains Delivery Plan. In November 2022 we launched the Green Heat Innovation Support Programme and the Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme . More recently we fulfilled our commitment to launch a new Mobile Heat Pump Training centre .

Proposals have progressed for a Green Heat Manufacturing Hub following the call issued by Scottish Enterprise in December 2022. A full and final proposal is now in development and is expected in early 2024.

In addition, we continue to explore options for a supplier-led funding scheme, which has the potential to support supply chain growth. We are currently engaging with the clean heat sector to understand appetite for such a scheme and the associated potential barriers and opportunities.