Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme: EIR release

Information requested

1. a) the total number of applications which have been made for the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme, b) the average time taken to process fully completed applications, and c) the total number of applications which were withdrawn by the applicant i) before an offer of funding has been made and ii) after an offer of funding has been made.

2. a) the total number of Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme applications which sought funding for the installation of a heat pump, b) the average time taken to process these applications, and c) the total number of these applications which were withdrawn by the applicant i) before an offer of funding has been made and ii) after an offer of funding has been made.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your Request

Please see the following tables for a response to some of the information you have requested.

The information relating to total number of applications and total number of applications withdrawn spans from December 2022, which is when the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme began, up to the end of September 2023.

The total number of applications shows the total number received from the start of the HES Grant and Loan scheme, but also including applications from the previous HES Loan and Cashback Scheme that were started, but not submitted, before the changeover in December 2022.

Total Applications (1)
Total number of applications (a)	Total number of applications withdrawn (c)
	Before a funding offer was made (i)	After a funding offer was made (ii)
6628	29	38

 

Heat Pump Applications (2)
Total number of applications (a)	Total number of applications withdrawn (c)
	Before a funding offer was made (i)	After a funding offer was made (ii)
2487	11	28

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested relating to

• 1 b) the average time taken to process fully completed applications
• 2 b) the average time taken to process these applications

because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

While we cannot provide the information requested, we can inform you that under the contract between Scottish Government and Energy Savings Trust (EST) to administer the scheme, application processing times are reported against a set key performance indicator (KPI). Prior to 1 December 2023, EST aimed to process applications within 15 working days where all paperwork was fully completed and supporting documentation submitted by an applicant. In the most recent reporting period, which covered from start of October 2023 to end November 2023, 92% of applicants had their applications processed within 15 working days.

This target has since been updated to 10 working days under the new contract which began on 1 December 2023, however, it is yet to be reported on.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because Energy Saving Trust (EST), who administer the contract through which the HES Grant and Loan Scheme is delivered, report on performance against the service level agreement relating to application processing once fully completed with relevant paperwork, but do not hold or report to the Scottish Government the average time taken to process fully completed applications.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about

• 1 b) the average time taken to process fully completed applications
• 2 b) the average time taken to process these applications

clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.