To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that pensioners can afford to heat their homes this winter. (S6T-02121)

Pension age winter heating payment will support older people on relevant benefits to help to meet heating costs this winter. Winter heating payment guarantees a reliable annual payment of £58.75, which is available only in Scotland, to people on low incomes, including older people. Our energy efficiency programmes, warmer homes Scotland and area-based schemes provide vital support to households in or at risk of Fuel Poverty.

This year alone, we are spending £134 million to mitigate United Kingdom Government policies through schemes such as discretionary housing payments and the Scottish welfare fund, thereby providing vital support to households that are struggling to meet housing and energy costs.

New research has revealed that rural households endure more cold weather than any other part of Scotland. However, the winter heating payment to which the Cabinet secretary referred was previously assessed in Scotland—and still is assessed in the rest of the UK—using data from the nearest weather station. In 2020, it was worth £150 in Aboyne, £175 in Braemar and £150 in Aviemore. This year, as we heard, the Scottish Government has capped it at a flat rate of £58.75.

Why did the Scottish Government choose to centralise that and ignore local weather data? Will the Government consider reverting to a fairer system, based on local weather conditions, to bring the people of rural Scotland back in from the cold?

Mr Kerr will be cognisant of the consultation that was undergone at the time.

I point Mr Kerr to the facts when it comes to what happened in the past and contrast that with the current situation with the winter heating payment. Forecasts indicate that we will invest £24.4 million this winter for winter heating payment. That is nearly tripling the £8.5 million that the Department for Work and Pensions provided on average in each of the past seven years, prior to the introduction of the new winter heating payment.

Mr Kerr fails to recognise that the Scottish Government’s decisions will guarantee people support this year, which will be more than welcome, given other announcements by the UK Government. It is very important that that reassurance and guaranteed payment are there.

The demonstrable difference that the payment will make is clear, given that our investment is much more than that of the DWP. We are investing more in social security, because it is an investment in our people.

That will be cold comfort to those in the north-east who are losing more than £100 this year. In other areas throughout Scotland, many pensioners will be faced with the end of the winter fuel payment, which is at the choice of the Scottish Government. The cost of maintaining it would be £140 million. The Scottish Government could have chosen to fund that by using some of the £2 billion projected cost of the national care service, but it chooses not to. Why does the Scottish National Party choose to fund pet projects rather than to help pensioners who are freezing in their homes this winter?

I hope that Mr Kerr was listening to the answers that my colleague Neil Gray gave to the earlier question. The national care service is about providing better services for people here in Scotland. I do not recognise the figures that he cited in his question.

Mr Kerr also chooses to ignore the fact that the UK Government’s decision took £150 million out of the budget this year—not over the coming years, but out of this year—and £150 million will be taken out next year and on and on and on. I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy from Opposition members who think that the Scottish Government’s purpose is to mitigate the UK Government’s bad choices.

During the UK election campaign, Labour promised to cut fuel Bills. Instead, energy bills are increasing by 10 per cent, and it has withdrawn the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners, a move that was rejected by its party membership. Does the Cabinet secretary agree with me that Labour’s broken promises are shameful? Will she give me more detail on the Scottish Government’s work with energy firms to deliver a social tariff?

Collette Stevenson is quite right to point out to members and to people across the country the difference that Labour is making. Labour promised to cut fuel Bills but, this very day, people are seeing that their fuel bills will go up this winter. I am not sure that that is the change that people had in mind.

Given the circumstances that we face, the Scottish Government not only is looking to see what can be done with the powers and resources that we have but is keen to work with energy providers. Collette Stevenson mentioned a very important example of such work. A social tariff would provide affordable energy bills and should be automatically applied for those who are most in need, but we need the UK Government to work with us and energy companies on that. In the meantime, we are establishing a working group to work with energy companies to demonstrate the viability of a social tariff, and I hope that the UK Government will commit to taking that forward.

Will the Cabinet secretary explain why, prior to the UK election, the Scottish Government chose to cut the fuel insecurity fund for households and repeatedly cut energy efficiency budgets, resulting in two thirds of houses in Scotland falling below the recommended energy efficiency standards? It would also be useful for people to understand why her SNP colleagues in Westminster failed to vote for the Great British Energy Bill, which will deliver lower energy Bills in the longer term and provide investment to make the change that we so badly need.

I call the Cabinet secretary to respond on matters for which the Scottish Government has responsibility.

As the First Minister said last week, we are keen to work with GB energy, but let us be clear that GB energy will not cut household Bills this winter or, indeed, next winter. The project is for the mid to long term, but we are keen to work with GB energy on it.

Mr O’Kane has chosen to ignore our investment for older people, including the winter heating payment; the council tax reduction scheme; free bus travel for anyone aged over 60; support for older people’s organisations; advice services that help people to get what they are entitled to; the warmer homes Scotland and area-based initiatives; and the islands cost crisis emergency fund. We are doing what we can to support not only pensioners but people who are suffering from Fuel Poverty. It is just a shame that one of the Governments that is responsible for Scotland is making that harder by putting people into poverty this winter rather than lifting them out of it.

Labour’s decision to cut the winter fuel payment for many pensioners will have a disproportionate impact on older people in Scotland, because temperatures in Scotland are significantly different from those in areas south of the border. For example, on Monday, the temperature was 10°C in Wanlockhead and 16°C in London. The cut will hit older people in rural areas, some of whom rely on oil-fuelled heating—30 per cent of homes in Dumfries and Galloway use such heating. Does the Cabinet secretary agree that the cut should be reversed? Will she comment further on the action that the Scottish Government is taking to support older people this winter?

In my previous answers, I have mentioned the support that we continue to give to older people, despite the budget cuts that seem to be coming our way.

Emma Harper is quite right to point out that Labour can still reverse its decision on the winter fuel payment. That opportunity still lies in its hands. That is why, following the publication of the UK Government’s winter fuel payment equality analysis, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to call on her to reinstate the winter fuel payment for all pensioners. That would be the right thing to do. If she does not listen to me or, indeed, the wider chamber, I hope that she will listen to pensioners up and down the country, whom we will continue to support as they face a very difficult winter.

How many Scottish pensioners are now excluded from receiving the winter fuel payment in 2024-25? What assurances has the Scottish Government had from the UK Government that a mass-media pension-credit claim campaign will increase uptake for eligible claimants, before the 21 December pension credit cut-off date, to enable them to qualify for a winter fuel payment?

Scottish Government analysis suggests that between 110,000 and 130,000 pensioners will remain eligible for payment in Scotland this winter, representing a reduction of around 900,000 pensioners who will no longer be entitled this winter.

The obligation of the UK Government to do a benefit uptake campaign is of absolutely critical importance. As soon as the UK Government announced the decision, I wrote to the Secretary of State to encourage her to do that, and we have seen some progress. Although it is a reserved benefit, the agencies in Scotland, including Social Security Scotland, are keen to amplify that message further and are working with the DWP on that.

That concludes topical questions. I will allow a moment or two for front benches to organise for the next item.