- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s Final Report of the Exotic Pet Working Group, including its recommendations to (a) introduce a "positive list" of species that are legally permitted to be kept as pets and (b) ban the importation of wild-caught animals for the pet trade.
Answer
I very much appreciated the report on exotic pets by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and have noted their recommendations. Consideration of exotic pets is only one part of a large body of ongoing work to improve the lives of Scotland's pets. The report by SAWC on exotic pets will be very helpful in future consideration of what action may be needed on this matter.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for eligible businesses.
Answer
The Scottish Government is providing £11.6 million in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to administer the Scottish LEZ Support fund.
The LEZ Support Fund for households is a part of this LEZ Support Fund, and does not have separate admin costs. The following table therefore represents the whole LEZ Support Fund, this similarly applies to PQ S6W-14972 and PQ S6W-14963.
The administrative costs (which include EST staffing costs) are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.
Financial year | Administration cost | Funding being delivered through EST | Output |
2020-21 | £381,000 | £1,759,738 | LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard. |
2021-22 | £334,277 | £3,706,925 | LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard. |
2022-23 (year to date) | £471,892 | £4,695,326 | LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard. |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the reported exodus of dentists from NHS dentistry.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the full value of the Destination Net Zero Vehicle Charge Point Tourism Recovery Fund has been spent, and, if not, how much has been spent in total.
Answer
The Destination Net Zero Vehicle Charge Point Tourism Recovery Fund was administered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of VisitScotland and the Scottish Government. The full value of the Destination Net Zero Vehicle Charge Point Tourism Recovery fund has not yet been spent, however VisitScotland anticipate that it will be. A total of £227,733.47 has been paid to 79 businesses to date.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Home Energy Efficiency Equity Loan pilot.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent £37,698 including VAT on administration costs for the Home Energy Efficiency Equity Loan pilot over the current contractual period of 2019 – 2023. The reduction in costs for 2022-2023 reflects the end of the pilot in March 2022 resulting in the closure of the scheme to new applicants.
A Call for Evidence in August 2021 sought feedback on the pilot. The pilot’s findings will inform the Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s deliberations on future finance mechanisms to support the greening of Scotland’s buildings.
| | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Equity Loan Scheme administration costs | £11,971 | £11,462 | £14,118 | £147 |
In addition, Equity Loan Pilot applicants are provided with support to navigate the legal and installation phases of the customer journey. The Scottish Government has spent a further £972,000 including VAT on this extra support over the period of 2019 – 2023, in addition to the administration costs in the first table.
| | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Equity Loan Scheme applicant support costs | £305,000 | £220,000 | £305,000 | £98,800 |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the SME Loan Scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent £292,985 (inc vat) on administering the SME Loan and Grant Scheme over the period 2019-20 – 2022-23 as set out in the following table. This scheme has provided significant financial support to SMEs in Scotland to decarbonise, improve their energy efficiency, cut energy bills and become more economically competitive over the Scheme’s lifespan.
2019-2020 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
£57,062 (inc vat) | £67,126 (inc vat) | £ 100,494 (inc vat) | £ 68,303 (inc vat) |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the eBike Loan scheme.
Answer
The programme costs for administering the ebike loan scheme are set out below. In financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20, the scheme was part of the Low Carbon Transport Loan and programme costs were covered from one budget.
Year | Programme Costs |
2020-21 | £143,797 |
2021-22 | £216,242 |
2022-23 | £235,812 |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the MCS Certification Fund.
Answer
The Scottish Government spent £886 on the MCS Certification Fund in the 2021-2022 financial year, and £14,987 so far over the 2022-2023 financial year as set out in the table below. The total spend since the scheme started until 15 February 2023 is £15,874. This scheme has helped increase the total number of MCS heat pump installers in Scotland by around 10% (calculated using MCS Scottish heat pump installer data from: https://datadashboard.mcscertified.com/InstallationInsights ) with 17 gaining MCS certification through the fund over the scheme’s lifespan.
2021-22 | 2022-23 (until 15 Feb 2023) | Total |
£886 | £14,987 | £15,874 |
There are no additional costs for administering the scheme as the fund is currently managed within the Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme team at Energy Saving Trust. The Programme is funded by Scottish Government to support installers in the energy efficiency and heating sectors.
Following the launch of the scheme in September 2021, initial uptake began slowly due to a number of factors, which included the length of time needed for an organisation to become MCS certified. The scheme allows applicants a 6 month window from the date of initial application to successfully gain their certification before funding can be claimed.
Due to successful marketing activity through the Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme and additional promotion through stakeholder organisations, recent demand for the fund has increased considerably. We continue to promote the fund and it is expect that the uptake will continue to grow over the next financial year.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent £187,547 (£225,058 including VAT) on administering the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan Scheme over the period 2019 to 2023, as set out in the following table. This funding has helped to install various measures across private rented properties, including many types of insulation, double glazing and air source heat pumps.
Energy efficiency and zero direct emissions heating is a priority for the Scottish Government to tackle low energy performance, to help to make the heating bills of those living in those homes more affordable and to make the homes warmer and greener.
2019-2020 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
£0 | £74,022 (ex VAT) £88,827 (inc. VAT) | £58,450 (ex VAT) £70,140 (inc. VAT) | £55,075 (ex VAT) £66,091 (inc. VAT) |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 6 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the SME Loan Scheme have been (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected in each year since 2020-21, also broken down by the (i) annual expenditure on the scheme and (ii) average size of (A) loan and (B) cashback awarded.
Answer
The Scottish Governments SME Loan and Cashback scheme has provided significant financial support to SMEs in Scotland to decarbonise, improve their energy efficiency, cut energy bills and become more economically competitive over the Scheme’s lifespan.
The tables below show the requested information between the relevant financial years. The data provided does not include applications yet to be decided or where further information has been requested from the applicant. The most common reasons for querying an application include incompleteness and missing supporting documents.
Information regarding financial year 2022/23 can be made available at the end of the current financial year.
Table A
Financial Year | Applications Received | Applications Approved | Applications Rejected |
2021-22 | 461 | 320 | 126 |
2020-21 | 286 | 211 | 75 |
Table B
Financial Year | Value of loans paid | Value of grants paid |
2021-22 | £4,579,125 | £1,838,233 |
2020-21 | £3,954,576 | £945,647 |
Table C
Financial Year | Average loan value | Average grant value |
2021-22 | £15,682 | £6,963 |
2020-21 | £20,384 | £5,802 |
