The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (Scotland) Regulations 2019: CRWIA

CRWIA Stage 3
Data Collection, Evidence Gathering, Involvement of/Consultation with Stakeholder Groups - key questions

1. What does the evidence tell you?

The evidence base may include demographic information, academic research, service monitoring/inspection reports, service evaluation reports, user surveys etc. Identify any gaps in the evidence base. In particular, look at what the evidence tells you about children and young people’s views and experiences of the relevant service(s); and/or what it tells you about children and young people’s views of the policy proposal 

Requests for views of energy efficiency were aimed at Local Councils, landlords and tenants, not directly at children and young people.

Scottish House Condition Survey, 2015-2017

• Nearly a quarter (23%) of Scottish households have at least one child under the age of 16, which is similar to the prevalence of families in the PRS as a whole (25%).

• Across the tenure groups, the highest proportion of families living in EPC E, F or G rated dwellings are found in the PRS (23%), followed by the owner –occupier sector (15%) and the social sector (8%). Standards are already in place for the social sector through the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH).Therefore taking steps to improve the energy efficiency of dwellings in the private rented sector is likely to have a positive impact on the wellbeing of children. 

• An estimated 85,000 families lived in the PRS in 2015-2017.  Of this total, it is estimated that approximately  23% (19,000) of PRS families living in E, F or G rated dwellings will therefore benefit from landlords improving the energy efficiency of their dwellings, particularly as the most vulnerable to the effects of living in cold damp homes includes young children.

• Other studies indicate that children will potentially benefit by: improved respiratory health, and reduction in school absences due to illness arising from cold homes and/or having more heated rooms for undisturbed study.  The physical health of infants could also improve in relation to healthy weight gain and lower susceptibility illness.

2. What further data or evidence is required? 

Is the evidence up to date, robust and reliable, sufficiently relevant to what is being proposed, or do you need to commission new research?

Scottish House Condition Survey, 2015-2017

• 2015-17 is the latest available survey data and the use of a three year average allows a sufficient sample size for more detailed analysis. 

• Even with a three year average, sample sizes for the regulated to E group are small (111 sampled cases), which means the confidence intervals are relatively large compared to the D regulated group (311 sampled cases), which in turn are larger than the PRS and Scotland rates. Larger confidence intervals mean there is greater uncertainty in the estimated statistic, which increases the likelihood of an apparent difference between figures being within the margin of error. 

3. Has there been any consultation on the development of the proposal(s)?

Public or targeted consultation with children and young people, their parents/carers, the children’s workforce - is there enough information on the views of the children and young people who will be affected by the policy/measure?

An extensive consultation on the Private Rented Sector took place in 2017 and, then in 2018, the Energy Efficient Scotland consultation took place. Both consultations communicated heavily with stakeholders, but young people and children were not included. The general public, which would include parents of children and young people were given the opportunity to respond.

4. Should children and young people be further involved in the development of this policy? Are there particular groups of children and young people whose views should be sought?

Specify how - outline the purpose, format, timetable and the questions you want to ask

See 3 above. Children and young people will not be directly approached, but parents of children and young people will be invited to respond to the 2018 consultation.

5. Should other stakeholders and experts be further involved in the development of this policy? 

Specify how - outline the purpose, format, timetable and the questions you want to ask

See 3 above. The responses that will be received during the 2018 consultation will be taken into account moving forward.