Chamber and committees

We do not hold information on whether buildings acquired are in fact newly built or new to the Scottish Executive. The core Scottish Executive has not purchased any new office buildings over the past five years.

A new advisory activity covering climate change has been added to the Scottish Agricultural College''s Public Good Advisory service for 2009-10. This new activity will involve a range of initiatives to inform farmers and provide practical advice on steps they can take to mitigate climate change and its impacts, including measures to protect peatland and moorland from damage.

The Scottish Government also recently published a report on calculating carbon losses from wind farms on peatlands “ most of the advice contained within the report advises land managers how to minimise carbon losses from peat. This advice replaces earlier guidance developed by Scottish Natural Heritage and can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/25114657/0.

In principle, restoration and re-instatement of peatlands may be ultimately beneficial in terms of carbon sequestration. However, uncertainty exists on the time taken for such sites to change from initial sources of methane, to become sinks of carbon dioxide. Given this uncertainty we will be seeking further evidence to allow us and our stakeholders to develop the best approach to this issue.

As part of the Scottish Soil Framework, Scottish Government will continue to work with a broad range of stakeholders to co-ordinate and enhance measures to protect soils, including peatlands. In particular, the Forestry Commission Scotland have issued guidance on woodland planting and removal and associated restoration of peat bogs, and Scottish Natural Heritage already fund and support a number of projects and schemes to support peatland conservation and restoration for biodiversity objectives.

2004: 1

2005: 2

2006: 3

2007: 0

2008: 0.

A renewal of an existing lease is classified as a new lease and included within the above statistics.

2004: 11

2005: 27

2006: 18

2007: 19

2008: 3.

A renewal of an existing lease is classified as a new lease and included within the above statistics.

The introduction of a new requirement, from 1 December 2008, for all houses put on sale to require a Home Report “ including an EPC and Energy Report with recommendations on how to improve the energy efficiency.

Announcement of proposals for the first stage of an ambitious area based home insulation scheme supported by £15 million of new government funding plus £15 million from other sources. The scheme is currently being developed and is expected to be launched in the autumn.

A commitment to bring forward proposals for a significant loan mechanism. This will assist householders wishing to undertake more expensive measures, such as solid wall insulation and installing renewable technologies.

A new Energy Assistance package [which commences 6 April 2009] will do more to help rural households by including a wider range of measures which will benefit rural homes including air source heat pumps for those off the gas grid and a wider range of insulation measures for homes which cannot take traditional measures such as cavity wall insulation. To ensure that these more expensive measures can be installed the grant maximum has been raised by £500 to £4,000 and the upper grant has been raised by £1,000 to £6,500 for homes which have particularly poor energy efficiency.

The Energy Assistance Package will be backed by Scottish Government funding worth around £60 million per annum “ 30% more than the original fuel poverty budget and will help to lever in additional CERT funding from the energy companies worth up to £100 million. The package will be delivered through the successful Energy Saving Scotland Advice network co-ordinated by the Energy Saving Trust.

Working with energy suppliers, through the Scottish CERT Strategy Steering Group, to ensure that Scotland receives its fair share of CERT activity not only in terms of population, but also to meet our distinctive energy needs.

Funding the Carbon Trust to support larger, energy intensive businesses and public sector bodies, to reduce their energy use. Through the Energy Saving Scotland advice network, Energy Saving Trust deliver sustainability living advice to consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises.

There are already a number of measures available to encourage the uptake of microgeneration and energy efficiency technologies including:

Energy Saving Scotland advice centres;

Carbon Emission Reduction Target which subsidises energy efficiency measures;

Recent changes to permitted development to allow a wider range of microgeneration technologies to be fitted without the need for planning permission;

The introduction of the Home Report including an Energy Performance Certificate and an Energy Report with recommendations for measures to improve the energy performance of a home;

Grants for microgeneration technologies through the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables initiative;

The introduction of the new Energy Assistance Package from April 2009, and

The recent Budget announcement of £15 million of new money for an area-based Home Insulation Scheme.

The Scottish and UK governments, along with other devolved administrations, plan to work together to develop a UK Marine Policy Statement which will set out high-level marine objectives for our seas.