Chamber and committees

Scottish Government and Dumfries and Galloway Council officials engage regularly on how to progress this commitment and a further meeting is planned in October, which will also involve South of Scotland Enterprise.

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) as an industrial scale decarbonisation system which has the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets. The advice from the Climate Change Committee describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net zero emissions.

The Scottish Government is supportive of the Acorn project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire, considered the UK’s most advanced CCS project; we have worked closely with the Acorn project team from inception and provided policy support and funding through its feasibility and development phases. We believe that the Acorn CCS project is uniquely placed to be the least-cost and most deliverable opportunity to deploy a full chain CCS project in the UK, providing opportunities to repurpose existing legacy oil and gas pipeline infrastructure, and close access to vast offshore CO2 storage sites.

Acorn is leading the Scottish bid into UK Government’s cluster sequencing process to allow CCS to be deployed by the mid-2020s, and we are supportive of this bid. It is critical that the UK Government’s cluster sequencing process recognises Acorn CCS as one of the first two projects to commercialise in the 2020s.

The August 2021 agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party recognises that CCUS technologies will play a part in a just transition , and that ( t)he Scottish Government remains supportive of these technologies as part of the energy transition and in particular it remains committed to supporting the delivery of the Acorn project.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Revenue Scotland, in its role as Scotland’s fully devolved tax collection and management authority, regularly publishes data on its website regarding the number of transactions subject to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), including the Additional Dwelling Supplement. The LBTT tax return does not however allow for capture of the information requested.

The options selection work will be concluded by Transport Scotland, Network Rail and ScotRail by summer 2022. In accordance with the Rail Enhancements Capital Investment Strategy each of the options will be appraised to identify which offer the most benefits and also represent value for money.

Network Rail recently confirmed that positive progress is being made on the project with ground investigation works starting in October 2021.

Transport Scotland expect Network Rail to produce the final programme for delivering the project during autumn 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03041 on 1 October 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03192 on‎ 4 October 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government will publish the final Heat and Building Strategy in due course, which will set out next steps in its delivery following the recent consultation; this included our intention to publish a public engagement strategy which is essential to supporting the delivery of this Government’s decarbonisation agenda.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as this is an operational matter for the independent Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). I have therefore asked SEPA’s Chief Executive to write to the Member to provide details.

An independent review of the go-live date for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme was conducted in June this year. We are considering its findings and I will provide an update to Parliament and businesses shortly.

Annex A of the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy contains over one hundred actions. Not all actions represent separate budget items or specific deliverables. Accordingly, the information below sets out timescales, status and expenditure across broad groups of actions and specific programmes. Further detail will be published in our finalised Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Delivery schemes

• We have allocated a record £50 million for Warmer Homes Scotland and £64 million for our local authority-led Area Based Schemes this year.
• We have increased the cashback available to home and building owners on measures to improve efficiency and install zero emissions heating, and will replace the cashback with a grant scheme in 2022/23.
• We have announced at least £95 million of capital funding for our Scottish Green Public Sector Estate scheme, this year investing at least £10 million.
• We have launched a second £30 million call through the ‘Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund’, and committed to keep the fund open with up to £100m available over the course of this Parliament.
• We will invest at least £400 million over this parliamentary session in large scale heat and energy efficiency projects, including providing support for zero carbon local and district heat networks, and large scale heat pumps. This scheme will provide both capital and project development support.
• Through our CARES programme, up to £5.25 million has been made available for this financial year to support community and locally owned energy. A further £3 million has also been made available to support the upgrade of fragile grids, recognising the distinct challenges faced by island, rural and remote communities.

Working with the energy sector

• In partnership with Ofgem and Scotland’s gas and electricity network companies we have published the Principles for the Development of Scotland’s Gas and Electricity Networks.
• We continue to work with electricity network operators through our Heat Electrification Strategic Partnership, and to work with gas network operators to develop the evidence base on gas decarbonisation.
• The Scottish Government provided £6.9 million support to the H100 project, helping to evidence the role that hydrogen can play in decarbonising heat.
• The Heat Networks (Scotland) Act was unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament, and we are developing the secondary legislation provided for by the Act. We have introduced a 90% relief from non-domestic rates for new heat networks run from renewable sources, and extended the existing 50% relief for heat networks to 2032.
• We will refresh the Energy Strategy in Spring 2022.
• We are partnering with Scottish Renewables to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’.
• We will respond to the forthcoming Heat Pump Sector Deal Advisory Group’s recommendations once they are finalised.

Regulation

• We have committed to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off gas from 2025 and in on gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.
• We have made a commitment that where technically and legally feasible and cost-effective, by 2030 a large majority of buildings should achieve a good level of energy efficiency, which for homes is at least equivalent to an EPC Band C, with all homes meeting at least this standard by 2033.
• We will introduce primary legislation, subject to consultation and to limits on devolved competence, that provides the regulatory framework for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency, and underpinning powers to support this transition and ambitious programme

Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies

• We have developed a methodology and guidance for the production of Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategies and Delivery Plans.
• The LHEES pilots programme completed in April 2021 and an evaluation is underway, synthesising learning across three phases. We have commissioned a National Assessment to create a central resource that local authorities can draw on.

Consultations

In addition to the consultation on the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy we have consulted on:

• Scottish skills requirements for energy efficiency, zero emissions and low carbon heating systems, microgeneration and heat networks for homes
• New Build Heat Standard (scoping consultation)
• Home energy efficiency: equity loan pilot
• Domestic Energy Performance Certificates reform
• Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP): call for evidence