Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-16674

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the Kilcreggan to Gourock ferry service.

Question reference: S4W-16673

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what process it will follow in determining whether to take over the running of the Kilcreggan to Gourock ferry service.

Any request for the Scottish Government to assume responsibility for a ferry service will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and would be progressed following a formal request by the party responsible for the provision of the service, in this case Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

The Scottish Government is willing to take on responsibility for all “lifeline” ferry services. This commitment was set out in detail in the Scottish Government’s Ferries Plan, published on 19 December 2012. Appendix 5 of the Ferries Plan sets out a number of “principles” that the Scottish Government will take into account when considering a possible transfer of responsibility. This appendix can be viewed by following the attached link:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/strategy-and-research/publications-and-consultations/j254579-20.htm.

Question reference: S4W-16675

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what ferry services are supported by non-government agencies.

Question reference: S4W-16672

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria apply to the designation of ferry services as lifeline services.

Question reference: S4O-02336

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how an independent Scotland would deal with the impact of European pension regulations.

Question reference: S4W-16531

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports (a) disabled people and (b) households with disabled children who are at risk of fuel poverty.

The results of our fuel poverty evidence review shows that fuel poverty is particularly high for older age groups, for those who are long term sick and/or disabled. This is why we have developed programmes which will ensure that disabled persons and households will benefit. The Scottish Government has created a £200 million per year initiative (£79 million from the Scottish Government and £120 million from major energy companies) to tackle fuel poverty. The new Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland aim to upgrade Scotland’s housing stock and tackle fuel poverty and offer a range of free or discounted heating and home insulation measures to all those across Scotland who struggle with fuel poverty.

In order to access the £60 million available for area based schemes local authorities must demonstrate that they are prioritising fuel poor areas and households.

We have also invested £16 million this year in the Energy Assistance Scheme, which provides heating and insulation measures to the most vulnerable and poor households in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-16533

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that any additional energy needs of (a) disabled people and (b) households with disabled children are met.

The regulation of energy suppliers is a reserved matter and the principal duty of Ofgem, as the energy sector regulator, is to protect the interests of gas and electricity consumers. Ofgem published its “Consumer Vulnerability Strategy” and workplan on 4 July 2013 which challenges energy suppliers to improve their approach to identifying all those vulnerable groups with particular energy needs and addressing those needs.

The independent Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, put in place by the Scottish Government, will be watching closely to see how the strategy is used in practice by suppliers to ensure that the energy needs of all vulnerable people are met.

In addition, the Scottish Government has created a £200 million per year initiative (£79 million from Scottish Government funding and £120 million from obligated energy companies) to upgrade Scotland’s housing stock and tackle fuel poverty. Our schemes under this initiative aim to ensure vulnerable consumers are prioritised to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, increase comfort and reduce energy bills.

Question reference: S4W-16534

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on target to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.

The Scottish Government has a statutory duty, “to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that people are not living in fuel poverty in Scotland by November 2016”. The Scottish Government is committed to eradicating fuel poverty and is increasing funding to do so. This year alone we have allocated £79 million to tackle fuel poverty, almost 40% higher in cash terms than the last Labour budget of £56.5 million in 2006-07. In total we will spend around a quarter of a billion pounds over this spending review period on fuel poverty and energy efficiency.

Fuel poverty statistics published in December 2012 show that Scottish Government action is mitigating swingeing fuel price increases. Despite punishing 14% fuel price increases in Autumn 2011, improved household energy efficiency prevented a further 35,000 households falling into fuel poverty.

Question reference: S4W-16532

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that energy suppliers understand the energy needs of (a) disabled people and (b) households with disabled children.

The regulation of energy suppliers is a reserved matter and the principal duty of Ofgem, as the energy sector regulator, is to protect the interests of gas and electricity consumers. Ofgem published its “Consumer Vulnerability Strategy” and workplan on 4 July 2013 which challenges energy suppliers to improve their approach to identifying all those vulnerable groups with particular energy needs and addressing those needs.

The independent Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum will be watching closely to see how the strategy is used in practice by suppliers to ensure that the energy needs of all vulnerable people are met.

In addition, I have met with each of the major energy suppliers individually to raise concerns about energy price rises and to press the individual energy suppliers to support vulnerable consumers. Earlier this year, Scottish Ministers co-hosted with the UK Government a fuel prices summit, which included representation from all the major energy suppliers, to press for further action to protect vulnerable consumers in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-16682

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many overnight hostel places have been available for rough sleepers in each year since 2007-08, broken down by local authority.

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