Heat in Buildings Bill consultation: equalities impact assessment

10. Recommendations and Conclusion

10.1 Mitigations - Financial Support

10.1.1 The Scottish Government has a number of support schemes available to consumers.

10.1.2 We have boosted the capacity available through our support and advice schemes this year. We committed to expanding the Home Energy Scotland advice service by 20%. Home Energy Scotland now has the capacity to advise over 130,000 households this year - an increase of around 13,500 on 2021-22.

10.1.3 Our new Winter Heating Payment replaced DWP’s Cold Weather Payment and provides a stable, reliable annual £50 (£55 in winter 23/34) to low-income individuals with their heating expenses each winter.

10.1.4 This is an investment of around £20 million every year - in contrast, over the seven year period up to 2021/22, on average the UK Government paid out just £8.3 million through its Cold Weather Payment in Scotland, to 185,000 people.

10.1.5 The £1.4m Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund is supporting those in our island communities who traditionally see higher costs for food and fuel.

10.1.6 We have increased the support available to SMEs via Business Energy Scotland by investing an additional £300K in the advice service to boost capacity.

10.1.7 We have also increased the funding available in the SME Loan scheme where SMEs can now apply for a £20,000 cashback grant for energy efficiency measures up to 75% of the cost of the installation. We have also widened access to the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme by updating the eligibility criteria, allowing a further 100,000 households to become eligible.

10.1.8 We will also make available £1.8 billion by 2026 on grant and loan funding to support people and businesses to move to clean heating, with support targeted at those who need it most. This includes offering grants to home owners of up to £7,500 for installing a heat pump, with a further £7,500 available to go towards installing energy efficiency measures as well as a further £7,500 in the form of an interest free loan.

10.1.9 We are committed to working on the design and scope of our support and advice schemes - making sure that they reflect our regulations and help those who need it the most in the best way possible. We will continue to work closely with as many stakeholders as possible as we continue to do so in order to ensure these schemes are fit for purpose. We know how concerned people will be about these potential costs – especially in the light of the recent and current surge in our cost of living. That’s why we are absolutely determined to get this right, and to make sure that we deliver a just transition.

10.1.10 There are higher levels of funding available for those in rural areas. Small businesses can receive an interest free loan of up to £100,000 to support with energy efficiency and installation of renewable heating systems along with up to £30,000 in cashback for certain measures.

10.2 Mitigations - Abeyances

10.2.1 We know that everyone’s individual circumstances are different, and that our homes and other buildings also vary considerably. We want to make sure that the implementation of future standards brings about positive change for people. We are aware that some may need to keep their homes at a higher temperature to be comfortable – e.g. homes where there are small children or older people, or others with specific needs. We will feed in findings on this into the design process for the bill and ensure that standards account for these issues.

10.2.2 Furthermore we have commissioned research that will help provide more detailed insight into who may need additional time to meet these standards.

10.3 Mitigations - Advice

10.3.1 HES provides, and will continue to provide, in-depth advice to householders on clean heating technologies, other domestic renewables, and more complex energy efficiency improvements. It also acts as a referral scheme for Scotland’s flagship fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, and as a gateway to domestic grants and loans programmes from Scottish Government for energy efficiency improvements to homes in Scotland.

10.3.2 Local Energy Scotland manages CARES – the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme. CARES supports communities across Scotland to engage with, participate in and benefit from the energy transition to net zero emissions.

10.3.3 Mitigations - Green Heat Finance Task Force

10.3.4 Public funding, support and independent advice services will continue to play a big part in helping people make the changes needed by the proposals in this document – but it can’t and won’t meet all of the costs, and we will need private finance and investment to play a big part. That is why our Green Heat Finance Task Force is looking at new ways to help people and organisations make their properties warmer, greener and more efficient, and to overcome the upfront costs.

10.4 Mitigations - LHEES

10.4.1 Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies are the principal mechanism for locally-led heat planning. They could support local planning, coordination and delivery of the heat transition across communities in Scotland

10.4.2 By the end of 2023, Scottish local authorities should have published their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES). These strategies, amongst other measures will identify where the clearest and most obvious heat network opportunities are in a given local area supporting households and businesses to make this transition.

10.5 Mitigations - Supply chain / skills

10.5.1 Our Heat in Buildings Supply Chains Delivery Plan sets out the practical steps we are taking to support the growth of the green heat sector and we continue to make progress on the actions set out within the Plan. Last year there were an estimated 5,000 heat pump installations and there should be an average of around 140,000 per year to reach the targets.

10.5.2 We estimate that there are currently around 12,500 full-time equivalent jobs supported by the traditional heat and building improvement sectors in Scotland – with the possibility of more than 16,400 jobs being supported across the economy in 2030 if we can make the transition at the pace needed.