Terms and conditions of Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme: EIR release

Information requested

1. Administrative Inconsistency: How is it possible for the Scottish Government to have "paid out" public funds for a device that it simultaneously defines as an "ineligible measure"?

2. Failure of Parity: If a precedent was set in 2025 for the funding of a NIBE S735, under what legal or policy framework is the Scottish Government now denying my application for the same device, installed by the same MCS-certified firm, while maintaining that the measure is "not eligible"?

Response

1. As the information requested relates to another applicant to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme, an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to this part of your request, because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. We are unable to disclose this information requested as this would involve sharing personal information. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

2. The Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 is the legislative basis for the scheme. This act empowers Scottish Ministers directly in relation to the provision or finance to persons or bodies intending to provide, improve, repair, maintain or manage housing.

Energy Saving Trust administer the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government, in line with the terms and conditions of the scheme, which are set by the Scottish Government.

The current terms and conditions are available at: https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/home-energy scotland-grant-loan-terms-conditions.

The terms and conditions do not include exhaust air heat pumps as an eligible measure for funding.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.