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: S3W-26888

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual applications to the Energy Saving Trust for the Energy Assistance Package have resulted in work being allocated to contractors and what percentage this represents of all applications.

The Energy Assistance Package provides a range of measures to applicants and details of those and the numbers benefiting can be found at:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Scotland/Energy-Assistance-Package/Programme-Statistics.

The latest statistics available cover the period from April to the end of July.

Of the 1,477 referred to Stage 4 by the end of July, the managing agent has indicated that 1,324 were accepted, subject to survey, and 1,296 of those were allocated to survey. Of those allocated to survey, 21 have subsequently cancelled and 611 have been identified as qualifying for Stage 4 measures.

Of the 611 the managing agent is progressing 349 applications (57%) i.e. awaiting permissions, agreeing specifications etc and 262 applications (43%) have been allocated to a contractor for work to be undertaken.

Question reference: S3W-26883

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) individuals contacted the Energy Saving Trust for the Energy Assistance Package by the end of August 2009.

Question reference: S3W-26892

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that existing contractors in different communities across Scotland can contribute to the delivery of the Energy Assistance Package.

The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. This is achieved through a network of surveyors and installers appointed by the managing agent following an open tendering processes, consistent with EU procurement rules, based on quality and price.

The Scottish Government continues to support the approach taken by the managing agent to secure a wide contractor base capable of meeting the requirements of the service according to the specification provided.

Question reference: S3W-26886

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many legacy Warm Deal applications and legacy central heating programme installations have been carried out following the commencement of the Energy Assistance Package.

Question reference: S3W-26894

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the threshold for fuel poverty in the Scottish Housing Quality Standard is different to that used in the Energy Assistance Package.

Question reference: S3W-26890

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what procurement process will be used to appoint contractors for the delivery of the (a) Energy Assistance Package and (b) Home Insulation Scheme.

The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. The individual surveyors and installers through which the managing agent delivers these are appointed following a tendering process which is open to all competent suppliers and is consistent with EU procurement rules.

The Energy Saving Trust, as the Scottish Government''s managing agent for the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) is currently carrying out a procurement exercise to appoint the supplier offering the best deal for HIS customers in a given area. This will be an open and competitive process in order to obtain the most economically advantageous tender and reflect EU procedures and regulations. It will be the responsibility of each supplier, when appointed, to enter into contracts as they see fit to ensure that the required skills are available to ensure installation of appropriate insulation measures in each area.

Question reference: S3W-26891

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether lowest price will determine the appointment of contractors for the delivery of the (a) Energy Assistance Package and (b) Home Insulation Scheme.

The managing agent is responsible for delivery of the measures available under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package. The network of surveyors and installers appointed by the managing agent to deliver these, is appointed following an open tendering processes, consistent with EU procurement rules, based on both quality and price.

Under the Home Insulation Scheme procurement process, suppliers will be appointed on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender and the procurement process will assess a range of relevant factors in order to ensure this.

Question reference: S3W-26896

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the threshold is at which a house is considered fuel poor under the terms of the (a) Energy Assistance Package and (b) Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

A person is considered to be fuel poor if the ratio of household income required to heat their dwelling to a standard heating regime is greater than 10%.

The Energy Assistance Package provides a four stage approach to helping people vulnerable to fuel poverty. Stages one and two include energy efficiency advice, income maximisation and social tariff checks. Stages three and four are targeted at those who are most likely to be fuel poor and offer standard and enhanced physical measures to improve the energy efficiency of the home. Eligibility for stages 3 and 4 is based on a number of factors including age and income of the household and the energy efficiency of the dwelling.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) sets out the standard that all homes in the social rented sector are expected to meet, independent of the household characteristics. The standard is based on a number of broad quality criteria, including the presence of certain physical energy efficiency measures. SHQS is not used as a yardstick to determine or measure levels of fuel poverty: the income level and fuel charges faced by the householder are required for this purpose and neither is a factor in the SHQS.

Question reference: S3W-26893

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the use of the energy performance certificate to measure fuel poverty rather than simply recording the energy performance of a home.

The purpose of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) is to rate the energy efficiency and environmental impact of a particular dwelling and recommend cost effective ways to improve the energy performance of that dwelling. They are a labelling system to allow prospective buyers and tenants to compare the energy efficiency of different properties.

Fuel poverty levels are based on the ratio of household income required to heat a dwelling to a standard heating regime. A ratio above 10% means that a household is considered to be fuel poor. EPCs do not provide the energy costs nor the income level of the household resident in the dwelling and so cannot be used to measure fuel poverty.

Question reference: S3W-26884

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) individuals are expected to contact the Energy Saving Trust for the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10.