Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) pilot programme: synthesis evaluation

4. Implications for rollout of LHEES

Making LHEES a statutory duty and providing guidance on LHEES development and implementation could benefit rollout.

There is a need for additional LHEES guidance and support from Scottish Government to ensure access to reliable data and improved data skills, and the engagement capacity and skills to ensure an effective role for stakeholders.

LHEES development is a resource-intensive process, and rollout will require significant resourcing to expand LHEES and to enable effective delivery.

Securing buy-in across all local authorities will be essential to support LHEES development and delivery.

This chapter outlines what are likely to be key considerations for the rollout of LHEES. These reflects challenges considered in the previous section and evidence on what has contributed to successful development of pilot LHEES. The context to LHEES has continued to evolve since the pilot programme, including for example establishing a standard LHEES methodology. Several of these developments directly address some of the issues considered below. Section 5 of this report considers these developments in more detail.

Legislation and regulation

Recommendation: Establish LHEES on a statutory basis, and provide stronger regulation around decarbonisation to incentivise stakeholders

"Without [LHEES] being statutory…we can make sure it’s out there and people are aware of it. But it’s only guidance and advice, and new developers can quite easily say, ‘No, we’re not doing that’.

Phase 2 local authority"

Making LHEES a statutory duty was a key recommendation from local authority officers, who saw this as necessary to secure the support and resources required for effective delivery of LHEES. Some expressed concern that without a statutory basis, LHEES are unlikely to be prioritised by political leaders and senior managers, nor external stakeholders.

Stronger regulation around decarbonisation was the second recommendation for local authorities. It was suggested that LHEES rollout will require implementation or strengthening of a range of policies and regulations, particularly to ensure engagement from stakeholders such as businesses and private homeowners. This included calls for fuel taxation reform to promote decarbonisation while ensuring protection for those at risk of fuel poverty.

Scottish Government guidance and support

Recommendation: Produce additional LHEES guidance and support, particularly around data and stakeholder engagement

Local authorities across all phases of the pilot programme saw a need for additional guidance and support for LHEES rollout. The pilot programme indicates that this should be focused on data access and skills, stakeholder engagement and ensuring local buy-in.

In relation to data access, there were calls for further guidance to clarify the range of technologies to be considered by LHEES, to ensure equal access to the required evidence base, and to encourage appropriate data sharing. There also appears to be a need for clarity on the role of stakeholder engagement, and the range of external stakeholders relevant to LHEES development and deliver. Other areas highlighted as requiring further guidance were the selection and use of external consultants, integrating LHEES with other local authority strategies and plans, and how to approach local LHEES delivery planning.

" For me, with LHEES there’s a lot of missing guidance. Standardisation, methods, it’s a bit of a head scratch, ‘What do we do here?’ There is nothing to say, ‘Here is the work-flow and events, here’s what you need to do.’ That’s been difficult.

Phase 2 local authority"

There was also a common view that further support would be required from Scottish Government to ensure effective rollout of LHEES. This included in relation to local authorities’ data skills (for example, facilitating the sharing of experience and practice between local authorities), and skills and capacity to deliver stakeholder engagement (including stakeholder mapping, and sharing of learning). There were also calls for support to encourage buy-in from political leaders and senior managers, including long-term policy clarity and effective communication of energy transition goals.

Resourcing

Recommendation: Provide additional resourcing for local authorities to achieve LHEES rollout – including delivery of LHEES plans

Resourcing has been a critical issue across multiple aspects of the LHEES development process, and it should be noted that development of full local authority-wide LHEES will require significantly more resources than were required for the more focused pilot LHEES. This will include larger scale data collation and analysis work, and a potentially significant increase in the stakeholder engagement required. In this context, the pilot programme indicates that development and management of LHEES may require a dedicated role within each local authority. Subsequent delivery of LHEES measures and programmes is also likely to require very substantial capital investment.

Feedback suggests that local authorities will not be able to meet these resourcing requirements alone. There are opportunities for local authorities to secure funding from other sources, but there was also a perceived need for Scottish Government funding to enable rollout.

External support

Recommendation: Support local authorities to access and make best use of external consultants and other support

" I think councils will need expertise from somebody around the types of data required, and then the analysis. That’s where we wouldn’t have the expertise in-house.

Phase 2 local authority"

The experience of pilot local authorities indicates that external consultants will be key to supporting rollout of LHEES, as development and delivery of authority-wide LHEES will substantially increase the demands on local authorities. There was concern that, without this support, many local authorities would be unable to deliver the same quality of LHEES. The pilot programme also suggests that, in addition to procuring support, local authorities require the resources to working closely with consultants.

Strategic positioning and buy-in

Recommendation: Work to ensure LHEES is given sufficient strategic priority and is effectively integrated with local authority strategies and plans

Local authorities made clear that ensuring sufficient strategic priority is assigned to LHEES, and integration of LHEES into wider local authority strategies and plans, will be vital for future LHEES development and delivery. The pilot programme has enabled local authorities to build communication skills to encourage buy-in. However, there is a need for more work to ensure a shared understanding of LHEES across local authorities.

Some also saw a role for Scottish Government in highlighting the need for LHEES to form part of an integrated approach to achieving climate goals, and setting out how LHEES should be integrated across local authority strategies and plans.