Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil has announced up to £14 million will be available for councils to make buildings more energy efficient in Scotland.

The fund will allow councils to create new approaches towards energy efficiency, which can then be introduced when Scotland's Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) begins in 2018.

It is understood SEEP will work towards reaching climate change targets, improve warmth in buildings and drive down energy bills.

Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said: "Over 900,000 energy efficiency measures have been carried out across homes in Scotland since 2008. SEEP will work with businesses and the commercial sector to see how we can achieve similar successes. This pilot phase will allow councils to test the effectiveness of new approaches to energy efficiency.

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"The pilot projects will integrate support across various building types, to evaluate the impact of innovative approaches to funding and delivery, and to test the market appetite for energy efficiency investments in the commercial sector.

"Across Scotland we have allocated over half a billion pounds since 2009 on a raft of measures to help the most vulnerable people in our society heat their homes affordably. SEEP will help extend these measures to ensure homes, businesses and public buildings can benefit from a similar approach."

The projects will build upon and integrate existing domestic energy efficiency programmes, combining support from the Scottish Government's Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, with the Home Energy Efficiency Programme Scotland (HEEPS): Area Based Scheme.

(LM)