Heat in Buildings - national scheme: island communities impact assessment screening

5. Is a full Islands Communities Impact assessment Required?

You must now determine whether, in your opinion, your policy, strategy or service is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).

To form your opinion, the following questions should be considered:

Does the evidence show different circumstances or different expectations or needs, or different experiences or outcomes (such as different levels of satisfaction, or different rates of participation)?

Are these different effects likely?

Could the effect amount to a disadvantage for an island community compared to the mainland or between island groups?

If your answer is No to the above questions, please complete the box below.

If the answer is Yes, an ICIA must be prepared and you should proceed to Step 5.

A full Islands Communities Impact assessment is not required.

Islands are within regions which have higher rates of fuel poverty. Islands experience different circumstances from other communities (including island communities) in relation to energy efficiency. However the design and content of the scheme will ensure parity of service provision across the country including islands and result in measures and mitigations which will take into account the specific island circumstances.

Within the current scheme, island households receive proportional access to the scheme. For example the below table outlines the number of households of completed applications per 1,000 people for scheme year 2020-2021:

Any different circumstances, expectations, needs, experiences or outcomes for islands will be identified through the Impact Assessments prepared to support the Heat in Buildings Strategy and Fuel Poverty Strategy which are the overarching strategies which inform and enable the procurement of this scheme.