Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing post-2020 (EESSH2): consultation analysis

Introduction

Background

This report presents an analysis of responses to the consultation on the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing post-2020 (EESSH2).

The consultation paper notes that, through the work of the EESSH Review, a new milestone has been agreed for consultation. The proposal is to maximise the number of homes in the social rented sector attaining Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Energy Efficiency (EE) Rating B (hereafter referred as EPC B) by 2032.

This would be supported by a formal opportunity for review proposed for 2025 to assess progress and consider the introduction of air quality and environmental impact elements to the 2032 milestone; and a minimum standard that no social housing should fall below EPC D from 2025.

A longer-term vision is also proposed for 2040, whereby poor energy efficiency has been removed as a driver for fuel poverty and all social housing is carbon-neutral as far as reasonably practical.

The consultation opened on 2 May 2018 and closed on 27 July 2018. The consultation paper (available at https://consult.gov.scot/better-homes-division/social-housing-post-2020/user_uploads/00534991.pdf) asked 12 questions.

Partner consultation

In parallel with the EESSH2 consultation, the Scottish Government also ran an Energy Efficient Scotland consultation.

The main focus of the Energy Efficient Scotland consultation was on proposed long-term domestic energy efficiency standards for homes in the private rented and owner-occupied sectors. It also sought views on a proposed approach to setting standards for non-domestic buildings, use of EPC data, and on potential legislative changes that may be required.

The EES consultation paper is available at https://consult.gov.scot/better-homes-division/energy-efficient-scotland/.

Profile of respondents

A total of 66 responses were received, of which 61 were from groups or organisations and five from individual members of the public. The majority of responses were received through the Scottish Government's Citizen Space consultation hub.

Respondents were asked to identify whether they were responding as an individual or on behalf of a group or organisation. Organisational respondents were then allocated to one of ten categories by the analysis team. A breakdown of the number of responses received by respondent type is set out in Table 1 below and a full list of organisational respondents can be found in Annex 1.

Table 1: Respondents by type

Please note that representative bodies for the Housing Association and Local Authority sectors have been included within the respondent type of the organisations they represent.

As with any public consultation exercise, it should be noted that those responding generally have a particular interest in the subject area. Therefore, the views they express cannot necessarily be seen as representative of wider public opinion.

Analysis and reporting

The remainder of this report presents a question-by-question analysis of the comments made. A small number of respondents did not make their submission on the consultation questionnaire but submitted their comments in a statement-style format. This content was analysed qualitatively under the most directly relevant consultation question.

A list of acronyms used in the report is provided at Annex 2.