Scotland’s Pensioner and Disabled Sold Short on Heating Programme – Wendy Demands a Fix

Wendy Alexander MSP has accused the Scottish Government of selling Scotland short after it emerged that less than half of the budget for providing help for pensioners and disabled people with heating systems has been spent.

A Parliamentary question from showed that only £24.8m has been spent from the Fuel Poverty budget of £50.6m with only one month to go.

Wendy said “The central heating programme that I pioneered with Donald Dewar in 2000 provided over 100,000 homes with new central heating systems. This Scottish Government replaced it with their own scheme which has only spent half of its funds with only days to go.

“This is a record of failure that Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Neil should be ashamed of.

“The sad truth is that the Scottish Government are letting down Scotland’s pensioners. The minister must intervene urgently to find out why this scheme is not delivering for more families and get it fixed.”