Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 November 2018.
Paul Wheelhouse
Scottish National Party
I recognise the importance of those issues in my capacity as not only energy Minister but islands minister. Those issues have been raised with me previously. I know that Mr Stewart and Ms Campbell are working hard to invest strongly in housing provision in the islands and to ensure that there is funding to tackle the issues through the area-based schemes. I am working with the island authorities to fine tune those schemes to make sure that we are reflecting some of the dimensions that Mr McArthur raises.
I should point out that there is a high level of investment per Intervention in each of the island areas. I do not want to play about with numbers, but each of the island authorities would be happy to supply Mr McArthur with information about the generous contribution from the Scottish Government to support energy efficiency.
Island authorities across Scotland are affected by a number of pressures that are outwith our control. We can do what we can with the resources and policies that we have. We want to work with UK Government ministers to tackle Fuel Poverty. I will certainly work with the member on tackling those issues in the Orkney Islands.
A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at reasonable cost, given their income.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
