Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 June 2023.
The First Minister:
I do not have the exact figures to hand, but I am happy for the appropriate minister to write to Sarah Boyack with the detail that she is requesting. It is so important that we reduce the emissions that come from heat in buildings, which is why the new standard was recently published, as we know that around 20 per cent of our emissions come from heat in buildings.
As well as investing in new buildings, we are committed to investing in retrofitting, which is an important issue. Of course, the issue does not just affect Scotland or the rest of the United Kingdom; the whole world will have to look at putting serious investment, both public and private, into retrofitting both residential and non-residential buildings.
We take the retrofitting issue seriously. The member will be aware of our heat in buildings bill, which we will introduce shortly. I ask all political parties to engage in it in the spirit of collaboration, because we know that, when it comes to tackling the climate emergency, we will all have to come together, particularly on issues around heat in buildings, in order to tackle the biggest threat that the planet faces.
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.
