Housing Minister Kevin Stewart has unveiled a £10 million fund to help improve energy efficiency in Scottish homes.

A total of £9m will be allocated to housing associations and local authorities to ensure social housing meet energy efficiency standards.

In addition, an further £1m is being provided via grants for households using the goverment's interest-free loan scheme, which helps meet the cost of installing energy efficiency measures.

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Work is now underway to implement 11 pilot projects on Scotland's Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), which tests ways of improving energy efficiency in Scotland's buildings as well as homes.

Minister Stewart said: "I'm delighted that this week a further £9 million is going out to councils and social housing associations to ensure some of Scotland's most vulnerable households are able to heat their homes.

"I am also pleased to be announcing a further £1 million investment in our interest-free loan scheme which will increase the number of people able to access help to install energy efficiency measures..

"Over the next four years we are making half a billion pounds available to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency. This means, by the end of 2021, we will have committed more than £1 billion to making our homes and buildings warmer and cheaper to heat."

(LM/MH)