Home insulation - the spin and the facts
You have to laugh at the sheer brown-nosing, lack of understanding and failure to ask questions that were the principal features of the MSP's welcoming of the home insulation scheme.
Witness this adulatory comment from 4 August:
Or what restrictions will be placed on delivery.
Or how contractors are to be selected.
Or even if the capacity is there to deliver everything before the end of March, when the public sector is prone to have a spend-it-or-lose-it binge.
Never mind that in 2007 home heating was a 'priority' issue for him and that in 2008 it was (supposedly) the biggest single item in his postbag, he seems to have lost sight of what was happening, or what was actually being proposed by the Government.
Too busy writing the (self-)congratulatory press releases, until the Council highlighted the problems this week.
Witness this adulatory comment from 4 August:
Alasdair Allan commented: “This new scheme will involve 8,506 households in the Islands being contacted in the first phase and offered free advice on energy efficiency measures.And this, today:
[...]
For individuals, the scheme will bring a much-needed boost to insulation installers and other contractors, and will leave a legacy of reduced heating bills for many islanders.
I have therefore asked the minister if he would be able to confirm how much money is to be allocated to the Western Isles, how the scheme is to be set up locally and how contractors are to be appointed locally.Well, let's start with the fact that the scheme applies only to Lewis & Harris, which neither Mr Allan nor the Government made clear in the big print headlines, nor have we any details of how much cash the Council will get to set-up and deliver a scheme before the end of March.
Or what restrictions will be placed on delivery.
Or how contractors are to be selected.
Or even if the capacity is there to deliver everything before the end of March, when the public sector is prone to have a spend-it-or-lose-it binge.
Never mind that in 2007 home heating was a 'priority' issue for him and that in 2008 it was (supposedly) the biggest single item in his postbag, he seems to have lost sight of what was happening, or what was actually being proposed by the Government.
Too busy writing the (self-)congratulatory press releases, until the Council highlighted the problems this week.
Cllr Peter Carlin said: “This is the biggest farce I’ve come across.”
Cllr Angus McCormack said it was “absurd and crazy” to exclude Uist and Barra.
4 comments:
http://www.hebridesnews.co.uk/macsween_accuses_msp_over_alleged_misleading_information.html
One of the reasons for how poor the 'self-congatulatory press releases' are is that they always find an echo-chamber in the Stornoway Gazette. It would actually help Messrs Allan and MacNeil as politicians in the long run if the paper did not exist.It might force them to think a little before they let loose their words upon the world!
I noticed there was no appology from our MSP regarding this. D J Macsween made us aware of this two weeks ago but the MSP was to busy fishing pretending to by a fisherman to have noticed. It is amazing he has been a fisherman, a weaver, a greengrocer over the last 2 years but not a politician.
http://www.hebridesnews.co.uk/macsween_accuses_msp_over_alleged_misleading_information.html
That's just the tip of the iceberg of what's wrong with the scheme. It's going to be means-tested, but they won't say on what basis. It's piecemeal, and it'll be expensive, so fewer homes will get done.
Note, those 8,506 households don't get insulated. They just get contacted and perhaps advised. Profoundly unimpressive.
I would say that, though, because I'm part of the Green team that tried unsuccessfully to get Mr Swinney to approve a proper free and universal scheme in last year's budget.
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