Question reference: S6W-10121
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 2 August 2022
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Current status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 August 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what type of heating systems it will require builders of new buildings to install in place of fossil fuel heating from 2024, should its proposed ban on the use of direct emissions heating systems, such as those run on fossil fuel, in new-build properties be put in place; whether it will provide any data it has on how many of the existing workforce are already trained to fit any such systems; what action it is taking to retrain those already in the industry to fit any such systems; which courses it anticipates will be required at colleges to train new people to the industry to fit and maintain units required for any such systems; how many places on any such courses will (a) be made available and (b) require to be filled to meet workforce demand, and, if none of this information has yet been documented, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
As set out in our Part II consultation on the New Build Heat Standard (NBHS) ( New build heat standard consultation: part II - Scottish Government - Citizen Space ), the Scottish Government proposes that from 2024, new buildings must use zero direct emissions heating systems of the sort set out at section 2.2.1 of that consultation.
It is our intention for these regulations to be technology-neutral, to ensure developers have flexibility in achieving compliance.
The Scottish Government has previously commissioned research to establish the direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with all readily available low and zero direct emissions heating systems. A copy of this research is available here: Direct greenhouse gas emissions from low and zero carbon heating systems (climatexchange.org.uk)
Our Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project, published in June 2022, provided an analysis of the current scale of the existing workforce in Scotland trained to fit certain zero emission heating systems such as heat pumps. The report highlighted that there are no publicly available statistics regarding the total number of heat pump installers in the UK and Scotland, but estimated that there are around 500 trained heat pump installers currently active in Scotland, based on data from the Microrenewable Certification Scheme. The report highlights that other forms of zero direct emissions heating such as direct electric radiators can be installed by an electrician, without any specialist heating knowledge, and there were an estimated 22,000 electricians operating in Scotland in 2018.
Ultimately, sending employees on training courses to develop new skills is the responsibility of businesses in the supply chain and this will be guided by commercial drivers. However we have sought to support businesses by offering free heat pump training in Scottish colleges through our National Transition Training Fund, with over £470,000 funding to support over 500 college places since 2020. This support combined with our early signal of intent and consultation on the proposed NBHS standard has provided businesses with an opportunity to prepare their workforce for regulation.
There are no specific statutory minimum qualifications required to install zero direct emissions heating systems, however we have worked with industry to define the minimum skillsets and recommended minimum qualifications required to install a full spectrum of zero direct emission heating systems, and have published this as part of an Installer Skill Matrix .
We have worked to integrate this matrix into the certification schemes that underpin quality assurance in any public funded work, and we would encourage the private sector to also use this in any non-public funded works.
To date we have provided £164,700 capital investment in colleges in the North of Scotland for heat pump and thermal insulation training equipment, with further investment in the South of Scotland provided by the Scottish Power Green Economy Fund. According to the Energy Skills Partnership, there are currently 11 colleges in Scotland with capacity to train up to 120 heat pump engineers each month. Three new training facilities will come online later this year, taking capacity to 150 each month. We understand that this provision is capable of meeting existing levels of demand for training in the sector.
We are committed to working with the new build sector to ensure that our investment in skills and training matches the needs of the sector as demand grows in the future.