In-house and 3rd party data services, specifically Local Heat and Energy Efficiency spend: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for information regarding spending by local authorities on in-house and 3rd party data services in relation to Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES).

Response

Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have most of the information you have requested because it did not procure these services directly. As such, you may wish to contact local authorities individually who may be able to help you. You can find their contact details via their websites, a list of which are available here.

Local authority use of 3rd party services

The Scottish Government does have limited information, based on voluntary monitoring and feedback, regarding which local authorities have used 3rd party services or external consultants during the development of their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies. The table in Annex A sets out which local authorities reported using an external contractor during the development of their LHEES. It should be noted that this information was collected in August 2023 and local authorities may have procured external contractors since then.

Local authorities procured assistance from external contractors for different parts of the development of their LHEES. The Scottish Government does not hold detailed information on which parts of the LHEES process each local authority used contractors for, or the cost of these contractors or equivalent in-house resource. However, from informal feedback our understanding is that it mainly involved technical work such as data analysis and geospatial mapping.

Scottish Government funding

The Scottish Government is providing long term funding to support local authorities to develop and deliver their LHEES with funding committed for each local authority of £75,000 per year until 2027/28. This figure was based on an estimate that £50,000 per annum would allow each local authority to recruit 1 FTE post to focus on coordination of LHEES, with a further £25,000 per annum to procure or internally resource technical support. Funding has been provided in a way to allow flexibility for local authorities to determine its use based on local needs. More detail regarding the evidence used to inform this level of funding can be found in Annex B.

The Scottish Government is working closely with local authorities to identify support needs and help address any challenges as they develop and deliver their first LHEES. We also facilitate regular forums and learning events aimed to bring local authorities together to share knowledge and help identify key challenges where additional support is required. An optional review of draft LHEES and provision of feedback against the LHEES guidance has also been made available to local authorities.

Annex A: List of local authorities that reported using external contractors during the development of their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies

Local Authority	Did Local Authority use external contractors?
Aberdeen City Council	Yes
Aberdeenshire	Yes
Angus Council	Yes
Argyll and Bute Council	Yes
City of Edinburgh	Yes
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	In house
Dumfries and Galloway Council	Yes
Dundee City Council	Yes
East Ayrshire	Yes
East Dunbartonshire Council	Yes
East Lothian Council	In house
East Renfrewshire Council	Yes
Falkirk Council	In house
Fife Council	Yes
Glasgow City Council	In house
Inverclyde Council	Yes
Midlothian Council	Yes
Moray Council	Yes
North Ayrshire Council	Yes
North Lanarkshire	Yes
Orkney Islands Council	No data
Perth and Kinross Council	Yes
Renfrewshire Council	Yes
Scottish Borders Council	Yes
Shetland Islands Council	Yes
South Ayrshire Council	Yes
South Lanarkshire Council	Yes
Stirling Council	Yes
The Highland Council	Yes
West Dunbartonshire Council	Yes
West Lothian Council	In house

Annex B: Local authority funding evidence

The level of funding for local authorities was based on several pieces of evidence. A peer review carried out on the LHEES methodology [1]in early 2021 distinguished between two core roles required to effectively produce a Strategy and Delivery Plan:

1. Coordination – project management, stakeholder engagement and knowledge of national and local policies and objectives. 

2. Technical – data handling, Geographical Information System (GIS) and analytical skill

The peer review recommended one full time equivalent person in the coordination role, ideally an officer based at a local authority. This roughly equates to £50,000 annually per local authority.

It did not specify the cost of the technical role but noted that it could vary significantly depending on how much of that role was carried out centrally, and how much was delivered by individual local authorities.

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) was carried out for both the Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill and LHEES in 2019. Drawing mainly from the experience of the LHEES pilot programme [2] , it estimated that the cost of producing an LHEES would range from £113,000 - £191,000 per local authority. It should be noted this is a total, one-off cost for producing an LHEES, not an annual figure.

Evaluations of early phases of the LHEES pilot programme (2017 - 2019) suggested 1-2 full time equivalent staff for each local authority to go through the full LHEES process, including any technical support. LHEES was in early development at this stage, so there was limited understanding around exactly what it would entail and what resource would be required.

Source	Cost per Local authority
LHEES peer review (2021)	£50k per year + additional technical costs
LHEES HNB BRIA (2019)	£113 - 191k per LHEES (total, not annual)
LHEES initial pilot programme (2017-19)	£50 - 100k per year

[1] A methodology for LHEES was developed from the LHEES pilots by Zero Waste Scotland, made up of practitioner guidance, models, tools and templates. This is an optional approach, and local authorities can modify this approach or take alternative approaches based on their local context.

[2] Development of LHEES started in 2017 and a pilot programme, involving all 32 Scottish local authorities ran from 2017 – 2021.

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