Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan applications: EIR release

Information requested

1) How many Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan applications have been received for the installation of air source heat pumps since the launch of the scheme?

2) How many Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan applications have been awarded for the installation of air source heat pumps since the launch of the scheme?

3) What is the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for awarding an application for the installation of air source heat pumps from the receipt of an application to payment of the award (what is the timeline KPI)?

4) What is the average wait time for a Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan application to be awarded for the installation of an air source heat pump?

5) What are the Key Performance Indicators for assessing the application for the installation of air source heat pumps from the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme?

6) What regional variations are there in timescales between the various Energy Efficiency Advice Centres processing the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme for the installation of air source heat pumps?

7) What consultation with the heat pump industry did the government undertake before introducing the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme?

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.

The answer to your question is:

1. The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the HES Loan and Cashback Scheme. From financial year 2022-23 to 21 August 2024, there have been 7,263 applications for air source heat pumps. These figures include some applications made under the previous HES Loan and Cashback Scheme.

2. The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the HES Loan and Cashback Scheme. From financial year 2022-23 to 21 August 2024, there have been 6,322 legally committed funding agreements made to applicants for air source heat pumps. These figures include legally committed funding offers made under the previous HES Loan and Cashback Scheme 

3. The administration contract contains the following service level agreements which apply to application and payment processing:

• On receipt of a completed application with all necessary documentation, a decision to offerfunding or not will be issued within 10 working days.
• On receipt of a completed claim with all necessary documentation, payment will be made to the applicant within 10 working days.

The time taken to install measures and submit a claim for funding is not covered by a service level agreement, as they are not in the control of the scheme administrator and Scottish Government. Applicants have a maximum of 9 months from date of approval of an application to carry out the installation and claim funding.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the contract are applicable to all applications and claims, not just those relating to air source heat pumps.

These indicators represent the target timescales which we expect the Service Provider to meet. The Key Performance Indicator is for at least 90% of applications/claims to be processed in these timescales.

4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

5. As outlined in question 3, the administration contract contains the following service level agreements which apply to application processing:

• On receipt of a completed application with all necessary documentation, a decision will be issued within 10 working days.

6. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

7. The HES Grant and Loan Scheme was launched in line with the Heat in Buildings Strategy, on which there was wide-ranging consultation prior to its publication in 2021.

ANNEX
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

4. 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 the processing of applications is only tracked and reported for all applications against the KPI target.

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 application processing times for air source heat pumps, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

6. 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 the processing of applications to the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme is not conducted by the regional advice centres. Applications for the HES Grant and Loan Scheme are processed by Energy Saving Trust (EST) and the metric is recorded on a national basis. As outlined in the response to question 3), on receipt of a completed application with all necessary documentation, a decision will be issued within 10 working days by the service provider.

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 regional variations in application processing times, 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.