Chamber and committees

Figures for spend on energy efficiency initiatives and fuel poverty from all Scottish Government portfolios are not currently available and will take longer to provide. The following figures represent spend covering heat and energy efficiency and fuel poverty for the period requested.

Fuel Poverty

The annual spend for domestic energy efficiency in order to tackle fuel poverty since 2007-8 is set out in the following table.

The 2014-15 figures include sponsorship of Home Energy Scotland which was previously shared between the two divisions.

In 2015-16 £119 million has been made available to tackle fuel poverty and improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. The 2016-17 budget will be determined following the spending review.

Heat and Energy Efficiency

The cumulative investment since 2007 to support businesses and organisations finance the implementation of energy efficiency and home renewable measures and for the development of district heating schemes is over £60 million.

Figures for spend covering heat and energy efficiency do not include funding for the provision of energy efficiency advice.

The 2016-17 budget will be determined following the spending review.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on spend by other UK countries on social housing. However, HM Treasury publishes an analysis of public spending by UK country by function, in the Public Sector Statistical Analysis (PESA).

The following table presents identifiable spend on housing development (comprising local authority housing and other social housing) by the public sector as a whole (i.e. including local authorities), on a per capita basis, for the most recent fiscal year available in PESA:

Source: HM Treasury, PESA 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2015, Tables 10.5 – 10.8

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that both young women and men are encouraged to aspire to the full range of rewarding careers on offer to them in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sectors of the economy. We are taking specific action in relation to physics and computing in our schools, as these are subjects where gender balance is in serious need of improvement. The multi-channel Digital World marketing campaign, due to launch at the end of September 2015, is aimed at attracting more women to pursue relevant qualifications and jobs in the digital sector. And, with the support of Skills Development Scotland and the Institute of Physics, we are providing practical support for primary and secondary schools to arrange activities for students to implement “whole school” approaches to tackling gender stereotyping in STEM subjects.

Our Developing the Young Workforce strategy aims to prioritise STEM courses in colleges and we are also working with our universities to improve the gender balance in academia. Fuller details of this activity can be found in S4W-26983 on 25 August 2015. Indeed, in August 2015, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning wrote to all university principals encouraging the university sector to take further action to address the gender imbalance at senior academic levels in our institutions. In addition, we have targeted investment in making women aware of the opportunities available in industries where they are traditionally under-represented. Through Equate Scotland we are delivering the CareerWISE programme to make women aware of STEM Modern Apprenticeships and are also offering paid work placements for female undergraduates to encourage them to consider STEM careers.

To enhance the work ongoing in formal education, we also directly fund science engagement in the four Scottish Science Centres as well as the science festivals in recognition of the role played by the informal science learning sector in providing positive role models for girls and young women, supporting STEM learning, and making science accessible to a wide public audience. On 17 September 2015, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning met with leading women in the science engagement sector to explore whether the wider science base could learn from the better gender balance which exists in that sector. She also asked meeting attendees to consider what further action might be taken.

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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The UK Government’s recent announcement to cease funding for the Green Deal Finance Company and Green Deal Home Improvement Fund has caused further uncertainty in a sector still recovering from the sudden changes made to the Energy Company Obligation by the UK Government in December 2013. It is one of a string of attacks on support for climate change and energy efficiency measures made by the UK Government. This announcement effectively ended the availability of Green Deal Finance further reducing support available to Scottish households. Furthermore, the closure of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund a year early will reduce the resources available to the Scottish Government for energy efficiency in 2016-17 by £15 million as we will no longer receive the consequential funding expected.

Despite the uncertainty caused by Westminster, this government remains committed to improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes to help tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions. This year we are investing unprecedented levels and have allocated £119 million to our fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes. Since 2009 we have invested more than half a billion pounds, benefiting nearly one in three homes in Scotland.

The UK Government has stated that it will work with stakeholders to develop an alternative for Green Deal Finance alongside a new Energy Company Obligation, but has not yet set out formal plans or timescales and has not indicated what level of funding will be made available. Due to the increased and ongoing uncertainty around support for household energy efficiency stemming from the recent UK Government announcements we cannot meaningfully consult with the public on proposals for regulation of energy efficiency in private sector homes this year as originally planned. Whilst I must, reluctantly, announce today (18 September 2015) a delay to the planned consultation, this government is committed to taking forward the consultation in the next parliamentary session.

In addition, given that the UK Government will no longer provide the £15.1 million in consequential funding, I must also announce that we will no longer be able to provide funding for our HEEPS: Cashback scheme for the next financial year – 2016-17.

I am today writing to Amber Rudd highlighting Scottish Ministers’ concerns at the impact of the UK Government’s recent actions and overall approach to improving energy efficiency. I have also today written to the conveners whose committees have an interest in energy efficiency and fuel poverty to inform them of the delay to the consultation and changes to funding.

The UK Government’s Summer Budget 2015 contained a number of reforms to the tax and benefit system, including a four year freeze to working age benefits. The Scottish Government published its initial analysis of these announcements on 11 July 2015 in the paper Initial Assessment of Budget Tax and Benefit Reforms which can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/Publications/BudgetReforms.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26433 on 28 July 2015. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.