FUEL POVERTY: HARVIE URGES INVESTMENT IN RETROFIT JOBS
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green MSP for Glasgow and a member of Holyrood's economy and energy committee, today called for major investment in energy efficient housing as statistics confirmed that the Government will fail its target of ending fuel poverty by 2016.
The figures show that during 2013 there were 100,000 more households in fuel poverty than in 2012. They also show that 36 per cent of housing is in urgent disrepair, with 51 per cent of private housing failing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. The biggest reason for houses failing is ‘Not Energy Efficient’.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"Energy efficient homes should be a national infrastructure priority and I will continue to press for this to feature in the forthcoming Scottish budget. It would help create thousands of high quality jobs while also tackling fuel poverty.
"We also need college courses and well-paid modern apprenticeships in energy efficiency. Fuel prices and profiteering by the energy companies must be urgently tackled across the UK, but unless the Scottish Government also steps up investment we'll miss out on the potential for energy efficiency jobs in Scotland."