Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 November 2018.
John Scott
Conservative
I apologise to colleagues for arriving late for the Minister’s statement, and I thank the Presiding Officer for calling me nonetheless. I also declare an interest as a farmer.
Notwithstanding the minister’s assurances to Gail Ross, he will be aware that the energy efficient Scotland route map does not adequately address the problem that is emerging in rural Scotland, where housing stock with low energy efficiency creates Fuel Poverty and makes worse the growing mental health problems that were recently highlighted in the
Ayrshire Post
. What special measures will the minister take to deal with those interlinked and growing problems across rural Scotland that cannot wait until 2040 to be resolved?
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.
