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-32760

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what average annual number of trees have been planted since 2007-08.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32759 on 23 April which gave the areas of woodland created annually since 2007-08. Using a broad average stocking density of 2,000 trees per hectare, the number of trees planted annually since 2007-08 is therefore estimated at an average of 6.7 million.

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.

Question reference: S3W-32759

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of trees were planted in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 and have been planted in 2009-10.

The total areas of new woodland created with grant-aid support, and also on the national forest estate, in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 are given in the following table.

Area of New Woodland Created (Hectares)

2007-08	2008-09	2009-10 (Estimate)
4,167	3,306	2,600

Note: The figure for 2009-10 is currently an estimate.

Using an average stocking density of 2,000 trees per hectare, the average number of trees planted annually since 2007-08 is estimated at 6.7 million.

Question reference: S3W-32835

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 22 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many grants have been issued under the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables scheme in the last three years, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) size and type of renewable device in each category.

Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant offers “ financial year 2009-10:

Number of Grants Offered

Local Authority
Aberdeen City	7
Aberdeenshire	165
Angus	33
Argyll and Bute	62
Clackmannanshire	9
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	43
Dumfries and Galloway	54
Dundee City	6
East Ayrshire	17
East Dunbartonshire	4
East Lothian	25
East Renfrewshire	8
Edinburgh City	42
Falkirk	8
Fife	58
Glasgow City	16
Highland	173
Inverclyde	4
Midlothian	9
Moray	38
North Ayrshire	16
North Lanarkshire	4
Orkney Islands	48
Perth and Kinross	96
Renfrewshire	11
Scottish Borders	62
Shetland Islands	33
South Ayrshire	27
South Lanarkshire	31
Stirling	38
West Dunbartonshire	1
West Lothian	16
Total	1,164

By Technology

Number of Grants Offered

Technology
Air Source Heat Pump	228
Biomass	103
GSHP	204
Hydro Turbine	1
Lerwick District Heating	12
Solar Hot Water	429
Solar PV	129
Water Source Heat Pump	1
Wind Turbine	57
Total	1,164

Energy Saving Scotland Home Renewables (formerly Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative) Grant Offers - FY 2008-09

Number of Grants Offered

Local Authority
Aberdeen City	4
Aberdeenshire	145
Angus	29
Argyll and Bute	61
Clackmannanshire	7
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	50
Dumfries and Galloway	58
Dundee City	3
East Ayrshire	15
East Dunbartonshire	12
East Lothian	21
East Renfrewshire	4
Edinburgh City	28
Falkirk	3
Fife	51
Glasgow City	2
Highland	170
Inverclyde	4
Midlothian	7
Moray	45
North Ayrshire	22
North Lanarkshire	8
Orkney Islands	31
Perth and Kinross	88
Renfrewshire	9
Scottish Borders	55
Shetland Islands	38
South Ayrshire	20
South Lanarkshire	25
Stirling	33
West Dunbartonshire	5
West Lothian	21
Total	1,074

By Technology

Number of Grants Offered

Technology
Air Source Heat Pump	157
Biomass	113
GSHP	321
Lerwick District Heating	20
Solar Hot Water	395
Solar PV	11
Solar space heating	3
Wind Turbine	54
Total	1,074

Energy Saving Scotland home renewables (formerly Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative) grant offers - FY 2007-2008

Number of Grants Offered

Local Authority
Aberdeen City	2
Aberdeenshire	115
Angus	31
Argyll and Bute	45
Clackmannanshire	4
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	13
Dumfries and Galloway	65
Dundee City	5
East Ayrshire	19
East Dunbartonshire	9
East Lothian	20
East Renfrewshire	7
Edinburgh City	28
Falkirk	4
Fife	67
Glasgow City	8
Highland	142
Inverclyde	3
Midlothian	9
Moray	22
North Ayrshire	28
North Lanarkshire	5
Orkney Islands	52
Perth and Kinross	67
Renfrewshire	2
Scottish Borders	62
Shetland Islands	55
South Ayrshire	43
South Lanarkshire	23
Stirling	21
West Dunbartonshire	3
West Lothian	20
Total	999

By Technology

Number of Grants Offered

Technology
Air Source Heat Pump	60
Biomass	69
GSHP	312
Hydro	5
Lerwick District Heating	34
Solar Hot Water	432
Wind Turbine	87
Total	999

Note that statistics has not been provided on size of technology as this information is not recorded when grants offers are issued.

Question reference: S3W-32773

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 22 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the forthcoming energy efficiency strategy will identify targets for the installation of electricity generating technology devices for households.

Question reference: S3W-32756

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what commitments it made at the Climate Group States and Regions meeting in Paris on 4 March 2010.

At the federated states and regional governments conference held in Paris on 4 March 2010, the Scottish Government supported the joint Paris Statement to EU leaders put forward by the conference hosts, The Climate Group and the President of Ile de France. A copy of the joint statement can be found on The Climate Group website - http://www.theclimategroup.org/our-news/news/2010/3/4/paris-statement-of-european-regions/.

Question reference: S3W-32758

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to reach its target of planting 100 million trees by 2015, which is equivalent to planting 10,000 hectares of trees per year.

Question reference: S3W-32757

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how the planting of extra hectares of trees required to meet the 100 million trees target by 2015 will be financed.

Financial support for tree planting on privately owned land is available through the Scotland Rural Development Programme. Land acquisition for new planting on the national forest estate is financed through the repositioning programme (under which areas of low public benefit are sold). The Forestry Commission''s proposed Code of Good Practice for Forest Carbon Projects is intended to stimulate further private sector investment in woodland based projects for absorbing carbon.

Question reference: S3W-32775

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money will be saved by the withdrawal of the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant for electricity generating technologies.

Question reference: S3W-32774

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation was carried out with constrction and renewables industry representatives regarding the withdrawal of the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant for electricity generating technologies.

Because of the unexpected spike in demand the Scottish Government did not formally consult with industry representatives regarding the withdrawal of the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grants for electricity generating technologies. But we have an ongoing dialogue with industry representatives through the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland and the Scottish Microrenewables Working Group on the future of microgeneration support and the Feed-In Tariff.

Also, our recent consultation on Conserve and Save: The Energy Efficiency Action Plan for Scotland asked questions on how Scottish Government support for microrenewables should be delivered in light of the UK Government''s Clean Energy Cashback Schemes and how we can improve the energy performance of Scotland''s housing to help meet our climate change objectives. The response to this consultation are available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Action/energy-efficiency-policy/ActionPlan.

Question reference: S3W-32772

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected number is of electricity generating technology devices expected to be installed in light of the withdrawal of the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant for such devices.

The Scottish Government expects that installations of renewable electricity generating devices will significantly increase with the introduction of the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) on 1 April 2010, even in light of the withdrawal of Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grants for these devices.

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change have projected that installations under the FIT will total 750,000 across the UK by 2020 and we will seek at least Scotland''s proportionate share of this.