Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 November 2018.
Alex Rowley
Labour
The financial memorandum that accompanies the Fuel Poverty bill that was published in June allows only for additional administration costs. However, we know that if we are to tackle the issue of the 24 per cent of households in Scotland that are in fuel poverty, it is likely that that budget will have to double. Will the Minister look again at the financial memorandum that accompanies the fuel poverty bill, and at realistic figures for tackling fuel poverty?
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.
