Zero carbon heating systems, heat pumps and supplying hydrogen to Germany: EIR release

Information requested

1. Could you supply all briefings, analysis prepared for or by the Scottish Government, all minutes/notes from meetings, all correspondence sent and received by the government, including internally, about Scotland supplying hydrogen to Germany, from between November 1 2023 and the
date of this FOI?

2. Could you supply any analysis undertaken of how many houseowners will be penalised for not having zero carbon heating systems, and any analysis/briefings about how they would be penalised for not having a zero carbon heating system by 2033?

3. How much has the Scottish Government spent on zero carbon heating systems, like heat pumps, in its own buildings in the last three years (2021-2024) with a breakdown of what this cash was spent on?

4. Could you supply all analysis undertaken on the cost of making all Scottish buildings net zero after the £33bn prediction in 2021, and what the cost is now?
-Could you also supply all briefings prepared for or by the Scottish Government, all minutes/notes from meetings, all correspondence sent and received by the government, including internally, about this, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

5. How many grants have been handed out for heat pumps so far in 2023 and 2024, and how many buildings still need to be upgraded?

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.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested in the attached Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because several exceptions under the regulations of the EIRs apply to several pieces of information. The reasons why the exceptions have been applied are explained in Annex A to this letter.

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.

EIR 202400410817 - Information released - Annex A & B

File type

153 page PDF

File size

2.7 MB