Meeting of the Parliament 27 January 2016
I will take no more interventions.
When I came in here, I heard the Liberals shouting for more money for education. I now hear them shouting for more money for fuel poverty. I ask them to show us where to get that money in a fixed budget. If they can do that, we will consider it in detail. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to tackle fuel poverty head-on by maintaining the expenditure that is available in the budgets that are under our control. It has been a very tough financial climate.
The increase in fuel poverty, since the target was introduced, can be explained by above-inflation energy price increases. Our figures indicate that, if fuel prices had risen only in line with inflation between 2002 and 2014, the fuel poverty rate for 2014 would have been around 9.5 per cent, instead of 35 per cent. The latest statistics show that, without our sustained and long-term commitment of funding, that figure would be much higher. We are also looking very closely at the recommendation of the poverty adviser referred to by Jim Hume in his opening remarks. We said that we would look carefully at all the recommendations and respond to each and every one of them.
Our long-term investment is helping to improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes. The share of homes rated with an energy performance certificate of band C and above has increased by 71 per cent since 2010, and by 11 per cent in the last year. That helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also helping people heat their homes.
Our record on energy efficiency demonstrates that it has always been a priority for this Government. We know that it is the most sustainable way to keep energy bills affordable and cut greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we have designated energy efficiency a national infrastructure priority and committed to the development of Scotland’s energy efficiency programme—SEEP for short.