Energy Efficient Scotland - improving energy efficiency in owner-occupied homes: consultation analysis

Chapter 4: Views expressed about the consultation process

Respondents gave feedback about their views of the consultation process which is summarised in Table 13.

114 respondents provided a response to this question. The largest proportion of respondents were either very or slightly satisfied with the consultation (42% of those who answered the question), while 31% were either very or slightly dissatisfied. 23% of all respondents did not answer this question.

Organisations were more likely than individuals to express satisfaction with the consultation (61% of organisations were either very or slightly satisfied compared with 31% of individuals). 

Some respondents praised the consultation for its comprehensiveness, the way it presented the proposals and the opportunity it gave respondents to comment.

However, other respondents gave negative feedback about the consultation. Some felt the document was too complicated and difficult to understand, and a few felt this could skew the responses by deterring anyone unfamiliar with the technical language used from responding. Some felt the consultation document was too long, and again a few felt this could deter people from responding.

A few respondents suggested that feedback could have been collected from members of the public in other ways, such as public meetings, rather than relying solely on an online platform. These respondents argued that the issues were too complex for an online form, and/or that some members of the public were not aware of the online consultation.

When reading the analysis, it is important to bear in mind that the respondents are self-selecting, as noted in the methodology section, and that some members of the public might have been deterred from responding because of the complexity of some of the issues, the length of the document, and/or because the consultation was conducted online.

Respondents were also asked to provide feedback about their views of using the Citizen Space platform to respond to this consultation (Table 14).

112 respondents provided a response to this question. In general, respondents were satisfied with Citizen Space. Of those who answered the question, 62% reported being very or slightly satisfied with the platform, while 16% said they were very or slightly dissatisfied. 24% of all respondents did not answer this question. Responses from individuals and organisations were broadly similar, although a slightly larger proportion of organisations were very or slightly satisfied than individuals (67% compared with 59%).

Most comments were positive, with some respondents praising Citizen Space for its ease of use. A few were particularly appreciative of the function that allowed them to save their response and return to it later.

A few respondents said they would have preferred to submit a response via a Word document, particularly organisations where a number of people are involved in compiling a response. It should be noted, however, that respondents were able to submit responses in different formats, and indeed 22 respondents provided offline responses, including email attachments that the Scottish Government uploaded to Citizen Space.