Over the weekend, several news outlets reported that the Deputy First Minister had committed to a review of the new build heat standard, which bans direct emission heating in new-build homes.

You should put your published question, Ms Hamilton.

I am sorry.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on plans to review the new build heat standard. (S6T-02015)

I am pleased that the issue has come up as a topical question, as I was due to issue a Government-inspired question later today on the very topic. I have been listening to the concerns raised by communities and will be reviewing the regulations on wood-burning stoves and biomass boilers with the intention to adapt them to address the issues of inflexibility that have been raised. The outcome of the review will ensure resilience to interruptions of electricity and heating supply and respect for rural communities’ culture, traditions and sustainable systems. I want to ensure that climate-friendly alternatives to direct emissions are promoted in appropriate ways across Scotland, with no unintended consequences with regard to fuel poverty and sustainability, particularly in rural communities.

The review will be carried out in short order and it will be collaborative, including communities, businesses and local authorities, to ensure that it reflects all views. I am just as keen to work collaboratively with colleagues in Parliament.

Surprise, surprise—the Scottish National Party has done another screeching U-turn. Over the weekend, we heard from several news outlets that the Deputy First Minister had committed to a review of the new build heat standard, which bans direct emission heating in new-build homes. We heard it on the weekend, and now we hear it here because the minister was forced into it by answering my question.

My party has long demanded that those rules be changed. They are misguided, ill-formed and fail to understand the realities of rural life. Can the minister give us a timetable for when she will undertake the review, now that she has finally given in to Scottish Conservative demands to review the ban on wood burners?

First, I thank Rachael Hamilton for early sight of her supplementary question. I cannot work out whether she is happy that I am reviewing the regulations or not. I cannot quite make up my mind on that. All I can say to her is that, when I got responsibility for this portfolio, it was obvious to me that issues were being brought up, particularly by rural communities. I am a rural MSP and I will always listen to rural communities. The review will look at previous consultation responses and evidence, at research, and at engagement notes including those that were received after the introduction of the new standard, and I will re-engage with the new build heat standard working group on it.

Ms Hamilton asked for an idea of when the review will happen. The earliest that we can possibly get the results of the review before Parliament will be after recess. That is how long it will take to do that engagement, including with my parliamentary colleagues. I will be able to advise Parliament of the exact timing of that soon.

I thank Kate Forbes for early sight of the minister’s announcement.

The Scottish stove industry is worth approximately £60 million annually and supports more than 2,000 jobs across Scotland. Last week, the Scottish Conservatives met 40 businesses and industry experts to hear about the impact of the ban. One company noted that, since the ban, it has seen its first month with zero installations. Another company echoed that, stating that, since 1 April 2024, it has had three stove installation inquiries, compared to 20 in the same period in 2023. That equates to around £100,000 in lost revenue, based on previous sales.

As we saw with the highly protected marine areas and the deposit return scheme, the Greens and the SNP find it all too easy to ignore rural businesses and communities. Can the minister confirm whether compensation will be afforded to those businesses that have lost out because of the SNP’s misguided approach?

As I said, I always take the impacts on rural communities very seriously. However, I want to address something that Rachael Hamilton and her colleagues have said in public. There is no blanket ban on wood-burning stoves. The regulations are for new builds, and I am doing what a responsible minister and a responsible Government should be doing: looking at potential unintended consequences of what has been introduced.

I should point out to Ms Hamilton that the regulations went through the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, and every member of that committee voted in favour of them, including two Conservative members. No one raised any of the points that she has raised. However, I have been hearing from people in rural Scotland on the issue, including the organisations that have been mentioned, and I am committed to reviewing the regulations.

What consideration is the Scottish Government giving to the necessity in many communities of using solid fuel, which is due to the energy crisis and associated cost of living impacts that the deliberate policies of the Conservative Party have inflicted on our rural areas?

I am glad that Emma Roddick has raised the issue of rural fuel poverty. Scotland suffered the highest level of fuel poverty anyway, even before the fuel crisis, so that is a very important point. We recognise that homes in rural communities can face additional challenges in decarbonising their properties, including the higher costs that are associated with that. That is why we provide a rural uplift for energy efficiency measures and clean heating systems as part of our generous funding offer. That is also why, in our recent consultation on proposals for a heat in buildings bill, we acknowledged the value of secondary and back-up heating systems to many existing rural homes. We did not propose that any future regulations prohibiting the use of polluting heat should apply to those secondary and back-up systems.

We will continue to support owners in rural areas to make the transition by ensuring that our approach to decarbonising buildings promotes fairness, feasibility and affordability, and is rural and island proof. However, it is true that many people were using gathered wood to boost the heat in their homes, particularly during the fuel crisis. Emergencies are not just power cuts for people in those situations.

Following the Conservative-led campaign with the industry, and ahead of my members’ business debate tomorrow, I am pleased that a review will be undertaken. However, it is only a review and not a full reversal of the ban, which is what we want. When the Scottish Government finally recognises its mistakes and listens to communities across the area that I represent and across rural Scotland and is forced to drop the proposals, will it commit to undertaking an economic analysis of the financial impact of the disastrous wood-burning stoves ban?

No one is forcing me to do anything. I came into this post with that responsibility and have been concerned about the inflexibility in the regulations. I am doing exactly what Jamie Halcro Johnston accuses me of not doing: I am listening and reacting to the views of rural Scotland, which have been in my inbox since I took responsibility for this area, and reviewing the regulations.

Will the minister consider emergency fuel sources? Under the previous legislation, they were to be temporary and portable. I am sure that she knows that a wood-burning stove cannot be portable—it needs a chimney. Will she also take into consideration woodland crofts, which were created especially to ensure that there is a sustainable fuel source for those homes?

Everything that Rhoda Grant has just said has been in my mind. I am thinking particularly of householders who are building new builds where they want to put in a biomass boiler because they have a sustainable supply of wood for it. That has been brought to my attention, not least through the communication that I have had with Rhoda Grant. I am happy to work with the member to understand some of the reasons why there has been such a backlash from rural communities.

Not that many people are putting wood-burning stoves or biomass boilers into new builds—about 4 per cent of those with new builds have done so over the past 10 years. However, those who are doing so are doing it not thinking that they will be polluting but because they want to use a sustainable fuel and are mitigating some of the impacts of the lack of choice that they have in heating their homes.

The minister is well aware that the new build heat standard did not cover emergency and back-up systems, and that the building standards regime already includes flexibility, such as derogations if new housing developments have to be put in an area where they cannot be connected to the electricity grid and therefore cannot use clean heating systems. Is it not clear from the current situation that all we need is a little bit of lobbying from vested interests and a little bit of misinformation and the SNP will start unravelling even modest measures—[ Interruption .]

Members.

—that have been put in place for good reasons?

Given that the cabinet secretary, who previously signed off the measure, was unwilling earlier today to commit to a timetable for introducing the heat in buildings bill to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, how much confidence can anyone have that the Scottish Government remains committed to that challenging agenda?

I agree with one part of what Mr Harvie said, in that there has been a lot of misinformation around the issue. That gives me the opportunity to state again that the regulations were never a ban on wood-burning stoves. That misinformation has been perpetrated particularly people on the Conservative side of the chamber.

It is also true that people in rural and island communities have brought to my attention areas in which they do not want to pollute and want to live sustainably. Part of that might be choosing a wood-burning stove or a biomass boiler for their new build because they have a sustainable supply. I want to listen to those rural communities and those voices. That is what a responsible Government should do, and I am happy to take Mr Harvie’s views on that as well.

We must move on to question 2.