Executive summary - An action plan to deliver affordable warmth in rural Scotland proposed by the Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force

Guiding Principles

The Task Force has set out three fundamental guiding principles, with recommended actions, on which the Task Force believes Scottish Government should base and develop an affordable warmth delivery strategy. These are:

Principle 1: Fairness and social justice should be every household’s right, wherever in urban or rural Scotland they happen to live.

Principle 2: All vulnerable households should receive the most effective practical help and support they need to keep their homes warm and at a cost they can afford.

Principle 3: The progress made by Scottish Government in its strategic approaches to eliminating fuel poverty from peoples’ lives should be set within a statutory framework for delivery which is rigorously measured and held to annual account by the Scottish Parliament.

The Task Force has recommended actions which they consider will address each of the following key strategic aspects that impact on rural fuel poverty.

• Indicators and assumptions
• The domestic energy market and prices
• Consumer engagement
• Vulnerability and health care
• House improvement, tenure and supply chain issues
• Economic and community development impacts
• Remediation programme effectiveness

These are detailed in Chapters 3 to 9 in the Task Force Report and consideration has also been given to which body should have strategic responsibility for taking each action forward.