Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Schemes Contract administration and management: equality impact assessment

Recommendations and Conclusion

The previous section demonstrates the range of perceivable and evidenced impacts of the HES Grant and Loan application process, which have implications for the contract under which this and other schemes are delivered.

No recommendations have stemmed from this impact assessment. A variety of mitigations are already in place to help address some of the perceivable problems.

Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)

The PSED requires relevant organisations to:

Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010

Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

To ensure that we take an inclusive approach, we will identify and support people across the range of protected characteristics, ensuring that support is available as required. We will give due regard to the three requirements of the PSED for all protected characteristics.

Monitoring and Review

The EQIA has been valuable in raising the overall awareness and understanding of the key issues affecting people with protected characteristics.

The impacts of the application and claim process, carried out through the loans administration contract which EST consulted have been considered as a result of the assessment.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders including organisations that work with or represent people with one or more of the protected characteristics to gain further insight into the impacts of these proposed policies. This insight will be fed into development of future policies.