- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2018
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14916 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 March 2018, what information it has regarding how many plastic straws there are in terms of (a) weight and (b) volume.
Answer
The expert panel will review the available evidence on plastic straws and provide an estimate of the number and weight of material to the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the potential impact on public trust in the planning process of connecting newly-built homes at Maidenhill in East Renfrewshire to the sewer network before flooding and discharge mitigation work commences.
Answer
Responsibility for dealing with planning matters is primarily for the local planning authority and it would be inappropriate for Scottish Government to comment on the details of individual cases.
Improving public trust in planning is a vital element of our proposals for reviewing the planning system. The reforms we are taking forward will strengthen the arrangements for development planning to ensure development is deliverable and the appropriate infrastructure is in place.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the waste disposal bill to farmers will be as a result of the decision to remove the exemption for drum incinerators to dispose of farm plastics.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many rural homes in each local authority area have received support from the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland area-based schemes.
Answer
We do not hold information on the urban/rural status of households assisted through our Area Based Schemes. We do publish a breakdown of installs by local authority to provide information on regional delivery.
The information for 2013-14 can be found at http://wwt gov.scot/Resource/0046/00466702.pdf
The information for 2014-15 can be found at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/HEEPS%2014-15%20report.pdf
The information for 2015-16 is not published but is shown in the following table:
Local Authority | Measures completed |
Aberdeen City | 2223 |
Aberdeenshire | 299 |
Angus | 223 |
Argyll and Bute | 223 |
Clackmannanshire | 117 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 281 |
Dundee | 1064 |
East Ayrshire | 620 |
East Dunbartonshire | 70 |
East Lothian | 61 |
East Renfrewshire | 95 |
Edinburgh | 2123 |
Elian Siar | 548 |
Falkirk | 246 |
Fife | 768 |
Glasgow | 1929 |
Highland | 345 |
Inverclyde | 307 |
Midlothian | 384 |
Moray | 182 |
N Ayrshire | 507 |
N Lanark | 466 |
Orkney | 160 |
Perth and Kinross | 368 |
Renfrewshire | 1297 |
Scottish Borders | 311 |
Shetland | 95 |
South Ayrshire | 346 |
South Lanarkshire | 865 |
Stirling | 1004 |
West Dunbartonshire | 554 |
West Lothian | 389 |
TOTAL | 18470 |
This information includes all properties improved through the Area Based Schemes, including properties owned by social landlords which Scottish Government funding does not cover, but which is carried out at the same time in mixed tenure projects which use a blend of Scottish Government, social landlord and UK Government Energy Company Obligation funding.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to develop metrics to differentiate between rural off-gas grid, rural on-gas grid and urban off-gas grid households for the purpose of delivering energy efficiency programmes.
Answer
Our delivery projects aim is to ensure that everyone in fuel poverty gets support, no matter whether they live in urban or rural Scotland. Funding for our area based fuel poverty programmes on the basis of need and takes into account different levels of fuel poverty across Scotland’s local authority areas. This is based on data from the Scottish House Condition Survey and the Home Analytics Database. This means that remote areas, including all island communities, currently receive over three times more per head of population to tackle fuel poverty than the next highest area on the mainland. Urban/rural classifications do not influence this distribution, but are reflected higher in levels of household grant available in remote areas.
Further, our Warmer Homes Scotland scheme is being delivered on a regional basis, including a separate Islands region, to ensure all households, including those living in more remote parts of the country, get the same level of service as those in urban areas. As we develop our new Fuel Poverty Strategy and deliver this through Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme we will continue to prioritise households which need assistance most, including those most vulnerable to cold-related health impacts and low income households, targeting support to those most in need, no matter where they live in Scotland.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress it has made investigating possible reform of the energy performance certificate (EPC) rating system.
Answer
As we develop Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), we will identify areas where review of the current EPC process is needed to support action under the Programme.
Work on the review is already underway. We have commissioned research to collate and report on EPC comments and concerns raised within last year’s three SEEP consultations.
This research, which will conclude in April 2018, will help establish where further investigation or review is needed.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that smaller rural communities are not disadvantaged in accessing energy efficiency programmes due to settlements of up to 10,000 homes being categorised as rural.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15039 on 14 March 2018 . Our delivery projects aim is to ensure that everyone in fuel poverty gets support, no matter whether they live in urban or rural Scotland. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of enforcing a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating on private sector home sales, and what consideration it has given to the financial costs associated with upgrading rural off-gas grid properties to a minimum energy efficiency rating as part of any assessment.
Answer
The Scottish Government worked with stakeholders as part of the Regulation of Energy Efficiency in Private Sector housing group between 2013 and 2015. The working group considered proposals for enforcement of a minimum standard of energy efficiency in both the private rented and owner occupier sectors.
Following this the Scottish government consulted last year on a minimum energy efficiency standard in the private rented sector properties and committed to seek the views of owner-occupiers on improving the energy efficiency of their homes, including the role of standards and the use of financial and fiscal incentives. The forthcoming routemap on Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme will include details of the next steps for each of the housing sectors.
To support the group’s recommendations, modelling of housing stock was commissioned including rural properties off gas grid. This work was published on 5 November 2015 and is available here http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/11/4536 .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on using a single definition of "rural community" for the purposes of delivering energy efficiency programmes.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15039 on 14 March 2018 . Our delivery projects aim is to ensure that everyone in fuel poverty gets support, no matter whether they live in urban or rural Scotland. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any diverging costs for rural and urban house builders as a result of low-carbon building standards.
Answer
Research supporting review of energy standards within building regulations includes specific assessment of the cost and impact of change on remote or rural areas. This focusses on the comparative cost of delivering new homes off the mains gas grid. An example of research commissioned can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0038/00386526.pdf .
An updated assessment of the impact of further change on remote, rural and island communities will be undertaken as part of the review of energy standards which commences shortly. We will seek views on this topic from developers as part of an initial ‘call for evidence’ on building to the current standards.