Heating Oil Support
Chris Kane Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
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Martin McCluskey
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing the case of Barrie and Gill Fulton to the attention of the House. I can confirm that the guidelines stipulate heating oil and LPG, so they will be covered; determining who is eligible will be at the discretion of local authorities, but I hope my hon. Friend’s constituents can find some relief in that information.
Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan) (Lab)
Many households in the rural part of my constituency—including in Carron valley, whose community council I met on Friday—rely on heating oil and live in older housing stock that can be difficult to make energy-efficient. Many of those communities also have an older population. Does the Minister recognise the particular challenges this creates, and will the Government consider future measures that better reflect the nature of rural housing?
Martin McCluskey
In our warm homes plan, we came forward with proposals for England. The Scottish Government, unfortunately, have ditched their heat in buildings Bill, which would have provided some relief to my hon. Friend’s constituents. I hope that the Scottish Government come forward with an alternative soon.
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Kane Excerpts(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Michael Shanks
The right hon. Gentleman and I have discussed this in the House before. He is right to point out that we see an important partnership with Morocco across our economy, and we have outlined more of that in the last few days. The proposal he discusses is from a private company and, like the previous Government, we have been looking at it. We will say more in due course.
Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan) (Lab)
A very happy birthday to you, Mr Speaker. Given the enormous potential for renewable energy generation across Scotland, including in my constituency, does the Minister recognise that accelerating community-owned energy projects and, crucially, improving local transmission infrastructure would not only reduce fossil fuel reliance, but deliver direct economic benefits to local people?
Michael Shanks
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, representing, as he does, a beautiful part of Scotland and one with huge potential for such schemes. That is why Great British Energy announced £4 million of funding for community energy projects in Scotland, working with the Scottish Government to drive those forward. We see, as my hon. Friend rightly points out, the huge benefits not just of delivering clean power, but of the social and economic value for the communities that host it. We are clear that community-owned energy has huge untapped potential and huge benefits for communities. We want to see much more of it, and Great British Energy will help deliver it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Kane Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Ed Miliband
The right hon. Gentleman and I do not necessarily agree on everything, but on this we do agree. The transformation of the West Burton site from a fossil fuel-fired power station to a fusion power plant is an incredibly exciting project, and we should all be battling for it.
Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan) (Lab)
Michael Shanks
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He underlines the importance not just of delivering on energy projects but the wider economic benefits from building infrastructure—the kind of infrastructure that the Conservatives now oppose. He is right that in order to deliver these projects, we need to see investment in rural communities by the Scottish Government. We will continue to press them on those issues.