WE continue to read how the construction industry struggles and how our governments create initiatives for jobs and growth.
Now it appears that an insignificant number of Scottish households have made use of the Scottish Government's green homes initiative. This is not surprising, as many businesses have expressed concern about the public's willingness to take up the Green Deal scheme. Surely the Government must realise that the public does want energy efficiency measures in their homes but, in a recession, need positive mechanisms to fund it. A simple, transparent and easy mechanism would be to introduce a zero-rated VAT band for all improvements and energy-saving measures in the home. If the Government then went further and required the work to be undertaken through licensed traders, rogue traders would start to be eradicated.
Please enable cookies in your browser to display the rest of this article.