Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has decided to extend the Climate Challenge Fund into financial year 2011-12 at the enhanced funding level of £10.3 million. Further details will be announced in due course.

The Energy Efficiency Action Plan emphasises the importance of energy efficiency measures and behavioural change in delivering the energy consumption and ultimately emission reduction targets.

The energy efficiency target was set and will be reported against using the sub-national final energy consumption data published annually by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

There is a limited historic time series available for this regional data with the energy consumption statistics for Scotland only available from 2005-07. The lack of a historic time series means that any robust business as usual projection would largely be based upon the average over this period. In essence, the methodology adopted is equivalent to assuming reductions against a business as usual scenario.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37483 on 22 November 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The private sector landlord boiler scrappage scheme will operate on a first come, first served basis until its vouchers have been fully allocated and will be open to those private landlords who can claim their voucher rebate by 28 February 2011.

The number of successful and unsuccessful applications, and boilers installed, to the private sector landlords boiler scrappage scheme will be recorded and broken down by local authority.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37483 on 22 November 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Sustainable Procurement Action Plan, published in October 2009, provides detailed guidance on embedding sustainability into public procurement activity. The Plan describes the various ways, including the use of environmental contract clauses where appropriate, that procurement activity can promote sustainable use of resources.

Good procurement strikes a balance between delivering savings, delivering quality and buying sustainably. Contracts are normally awarded on the basis of the characteristics, including environmental characteristics where relevant, of the goods or services to be provided. Where they are relevant to the applicant''s suitability to bid or to performance of the contract, the environmental and sustainability credentials of applicants may be considered alongside other credentials as part of the procurement process.

The Climate Change Delivery Plan published in 2009 suggests that emissions from transport should reduce by 27% by 2020 if the overall target of a 42% emissions reduction over this period is to be met. It highlights the need for complete decarbonisation of road transport through the widespread uptake of low carbon vehicles, and for significant decarbonisation of rail transport, by 2050.

A programme of transport emission reduction measures is being considered by ministers for inclusion in the statutory Report on Proposals and Policies for meeting Scotland''s ambitious climate change targets. This report is being prepared in the context of the development of the draft Scottish budget. It is intended that these documents be published in November 2010.

In the meantime, Conserve and Save, the Scottish Government''s Energy Efficiency Action Plan, published in October 2010 sets out a number of key actions required to reduce transport energy consumption by (a) reducing the need to travel (b) widening travel choices to include more sustainable transport options and (c) efficiencies in driving and in the transport network.

An action plan to deliver the widespread uptake of low carbon vehicles envisaged in the Climate Change Delivery Plan will be published later this year. For 2010-11, Transport Scotland has committed £4.3 million to support Community Planning Partnership procurement of low carbon vehicles, and for the provision of supportive infrastructure. Bus operators are also benefiting from the Scottish Green Bus Fund, which is providing £4.4 million in the current financial year to assist the purchase of low carbon buses. In addition, Transport Scotland and a range of public and private sector partners have submitted a joint bid under the UK Government funded Plugged-in Places electric vehicle infrastructure scheme. If successful, this proposal will see a critical mass of infrastructure placed throughout central and southern Scotland by 2013.

The Cycling Action Plan for Scotland published earlier this year sets the framework for a tenfold increase by 2020 in the number of journeys that are made by bicycle. Total funding in support of cycling in Scotland in 2010-11 is £17.3 million. The £15 million Smarter Choices Smarter Places joint programme with COSLA supports sustainable travel demonstration projects in seven communities across Scotland i.e. Kirkwall, Dundee, Larbert and Stenhousemuir, Kirkintilloch and Lenzie, Glasgow East End, Barrhead and Dumfries.

We are also working to reduce emissions from the movement of goods. The latest report of the Freight Best Practice Scotland programme suggests savings of 33,173 tonnes of CO2 emissions and nearly £14 million for operators in 2009-10.

 

The following is a corrected answer (published on 22 November 2010); see below.

 

Stewart StevensonThe Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 created a statutory framework for greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Scotland by setting an interim 42% reduction target for 2020 and an 80% reduction target for 2050.

The draft report on Proposals and Policies published on 17 November 2010 (laying number SG/2010/251) sets out our proposals and policies for meeting the targets to 2022, and thus making the transition to a low carbon economy.  A copy has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52063). A final report will be published following a 60-day period for parliamentary consideration, as required by the Climate Change Act.

The transport measures identified in the draft report fall into three broad categories:

reducing the need to travel;

widening travel choices to encourage lower carbon options; and

encouraging more energy efficient driving. 

Conserve and Save, our Energy Efficiency Action Plan, published on 6 October 2010 also identified a number of actions to reduce transport energy consumption.   A copy has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51884).

The Scottish Government estimates that there are around 250,400 occupied residential properties in the private rented sector and this equates to just over 10% of occupied dwellings in Scotland. A breakdown of this figure by local authority area is shown in the following table.

Estimated Occupied Properties in the Private Rented Sector 2009, by Local Authority area

Local Authority	Properties (,000s)
Aberdeen City	15.8
Aberdeenshire	9.3
Angus	5.5
Argyll and Bute	4.2
Clackmannanshire	1.7
Dumfries and Galloway	7.7
Dundee City	12.5
East Ayrshire	4.5
East Dunbartonshire	2.1
East Lothian	4.3
East Renfrewshire	1.7
Edinburgh, City of	44.1
Eilean Siar	0.5
Falkirk	4.5
Fife	15.3
Glasgow City	33.8
Highland	9.2
Inverclyde	2.9
Midlothian	2.1
Moray	3.6
North Ayrshire	4.5
North Lanarkshire	7.5
Orkney Islands	1.1
Perth and Kinross	9.5
Renfrewshire	6.2
Scottish Borders, The	7.6
Shetland Islands	0.4
South Ayrshire	4.4
South Lanarkshire	12.0
Stirling	4.5
West Dunbartonshire	1.9
West Lothian	5.5
Scotland	250.4