Chamber and committees

You drew attention to my trying to hurry you up, cabinet secretary. I was trying to do it subtly, but I obviously failed.

I will bring in Jackie Dunbar and then Liam Kerr, after which I will come back to Fiona Hyslop for any follow-up questions.

It might be a mistake, but go ahead, Liam.

Can I push you a little bit on that, cabinet secretary? I think that £750 million was generated in the option agreement for ScotWind. If only 9 per cent remains with the Crown Estate, because the money is classed as revenue rather than capital, it still gives you just shy of £700 million. Are you saying that all of that £700 million will be kept in the pot to help with transition?

That is a good idea. A written response to the committee would be very helpful. If you could forward it to the clerk, that would be very useful.

Monica, you are on the ball. You were expecting the information and reminded the cabinet secretary. Unless members have any other questions, I would like to ask about the issue that Liam Kerr raised. Before I do, I remind the committee that I own properties that are available for rental and that I am a chartered surveyor by training.

In this country, we use energy performance certificates. Are you happy, cabinet secretary, that EPCs are worth while, do what they are said to do and are useful to home owners in working out whether their houses are energy efficient?

I am keen on every house being as energy efficient as possible. I know from doing EPCs that, sometimes, changing to LED light bulbs gets you more points than putting in double-glazed windows. To me, that questions the point of EPCs. As part of moving to net zero, which is important, would the Government consider reviewing how we do energy efficiency in homes and how we achieve it? Gas prices are going up. Is the EPC system relevant?

Colleagues, I am afraid that, in order to preserve David Hammond’s sound quality, we have removed his picture. However, he is still very much there, and I am sure that he wants to answer questions. The next questions are from Monica Lennon.

I think that you are confusing everyone. I will bring in David Hammond.

I will leave that hanging because the target of social housing reaching EPC C rating is only three years away. If we are going to achieve that in three years, we ought to know the cost of it.

I thank the panel members for giving evidence this afternoon and for rescheduling the meeting given everything that was going on last week. That concludes the public part of the meeting.

It looks as though you are up, Andrew. If you are brief, Stephen might get in as well—it depends on whether you are currying favour with him.