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SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
1.1. Halcrow was commissioned in March 2005, by the Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport & Lifelong Learning Department, to undertake an interim evaluation of the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative ( SCHRI). This report presents the findings from this study.
1.2 SCHRI was established in 2002 and is managed jointly by the Energy Saving Trust ( EST) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise ( HIE). It provides a one-stop shop offering grants, advice and project support to assist the development of new community and household renewable schemes in Scotland. Funding was initially provided by the Scottish Executive for a three year period from 2002/2003 to 2004/2005. A further extension of the initiative was announced at the end of 2004, providing a further £6.6 million and extending the programme to March 2008.
1.3 There are two main elements to the initiative:
- an advisory service to provide expertise, advice and development support to community organisations, including councils, schools, housing associations and voluntary groups;
- a scheme of capital grants available for both communities and householders.
1.4 The service for communities is administered by EST in the lowlands and by HIE in the Highlands and Islands. The householder scheme is run on an all-Scotland basis by EST.
Objectives of study
1.5 The interim evaluation provides the opportunity to inform the future development of the initiative and evaluate the performance of the programme over its first three years of funding. The main focus of the evaluation has been the performance of the initiative in Value for Money ( VfM) terms. This requires an assessment of key issues such as leverage, displacement, additionality and deadweight, in order to assess what would have happened without the initiative (assessment of counterfactual).
1.6 In addition, the interim stage of evaluation has a strong process led element, and so the secondary focus of the study has been on the effectiveness of the SCHRI process, with an emphasis placed on an evaluation of the advisory service.
Methodology
1.7 The methodology for the study included a mixture of primary and secondary research.
1.8 Primary Research: A telephone survey of eighty beneficiaries, divided equally between household and community projects, was undertaken in order to assess the impact of the initiative with grant beneficiaries. A structured questionnaire was developed for these interviews, which was approved by the client before proceeding. The results of the survey were entered into a Statistical Package for Social Sciences ( SPSS) database for further quantitative analysis. The survey of beneficiaries was complemented by a series of face to face and telephone consultations with identified contacts within HIE, EST, the Scottish Renewables Forum ( SRF) and the Scottish Executive and a number of SCHRI development officers across Scotland, using a structured aide-memoir.
1.9 It was apparent at an early stage in the study that the study would benefit from additional consultations undertaken with another group of principal stakeholders, the accredited installers. Therefore, further telephone consultations were undertaken with a range of installers/manufacturers based in Scotland that were currently accredited or going through the accreditation process. A further structured aide-memoir was developed for these consultations.
1.10 Secondary research: A literature review was undertaken of a number of strategic policy documents and research papers, which had been published by the Scottish Executive and UK government departments as well as a number of research bodies. This was complemented by a review of application and appraisal forms and monitoring information produced by EST and HIE. A further review was undertaken of the renewable technology market, making use of specialist skills within Halcrow's Renewable Energy team.
1.11 Client meetings: An inception meeting was held to clarify key issues relating to the project, confirming the scope and proposed method. This took place on 25 April 2005, and a further clarification note was prepared as a result of the discussions between Halcrow and the client team. This provided further guidance on the evaluation requirements for the study relating to the proposed methodology as well as reporting milestones and timescales. Several subsequent progress meetings were arranged at key milestones to report on progress to date regarding the study.
Structure of the Report
1.12 The study structure has five further chapters which are outlined below.
1.13 Chapter Two: Contextual Review. This chapter provides an introduction to the strategic and policy context in which the initiative has developed including reference to a number of important strategic documents on Scottish and UK-wide energy policy.
1.14 Chapter Three: Process Evaluation. This chapter focuses on an evaluation of the advisory service and concentrates primarily on process issues. This includes a review of the rationale and objectives of the programme, and the procedures in place for appraisal, monitoring and reporting. It reviews the level of integration with other support mechanisms, and highlights areas of best practice.
1.15 This section has been informed primarily by the consultations undertaken with SCHRI development officers and contacts in EST and HIE, and the survey of beneficiaries to assess use of the advisory service and levels of customer satisfaction. The full findings from the beneficiary survey are included as an appendix to the main report.
1.16 Chapter Four: Value for Money Assessment. This task was primarily desk based and includes a review of eligible technologies included in the programme. This chapter also assesses the performance of the programme in terms of analysing outputs and outcomes, including generating outcomes in the form of economic activity/employment and carbon displacement. This chapter was informed by the assessment of additionality and deadweight captured in the survey of beneficiaries as well as the interviews with accredited installers and manufacturers based in Scotland in order to assess the influence of the programme in supporting employment in the renewables sector.
1.17 Chapter Five: Forward Looking Analysis. This part of the study focuses on two main issues, which will influence the future development of the programme: the rationale regarding the inclusion of Public Private Partnership ( PPP) school projects in the initiative; and a funding assessment of the initiative in terms of reviewing future demand and resultant funding requirements.
1.18 Chapter Six: Summary and Conclusions. This chapter brings together the findings from the other previous sections and presents the main conclusions from the evaluation.
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