Meeting of the Parliament 23 April 2014
Our budget is being spent on energy efficiency measures in the home. We are delivering more energy efficiency measures per head of population in Scotland than are being delivered in the rest of the UK, and we will continue to do that. That is because of the funding that the Scottish Government has provided. It is not just me who is saying that—the energy companies are saying that, local authorities are saying that and the Scottish fuel poverty forum is saying that. [Interruption.] Labour members may laugh, but the reality is that we are consistently delivering more energy efficiency measures per head of population in Scotland than are being delivered in the rest of the UK.
We are spending more money on fuel poverty than the previous Labour Administration spent on it. In our white paper, we have committed to removing the obligation from the energy companies and putting it on the public expense. In that way, we will ensure that energy efficiency measures continue, and consumers in Scotland will experience a year-on-year reduction in their bills. What we propose is not simply a temporary measure of the kind that the Labour Party proposes.