A new dataset has been added to the Improvement Service Spatial Hub, showing levels of fuel poverty data across Scotland.
The Scottish Fuel Poverty Index created in the summer of 2023 by EDINA@University of Edinburgh as part of their student internship programme.
The dataset takes into account a number of variables related to poverty, which are categorised according to whether they relate to demand or the ability to pay. The final Fuel Poverty score for each council is calculated by taking the average of their demand and ability to pay variables. A low score means the area is at low risk of fuel poverty and a high score means the area is at a high risk of fuel poverty.
The Scottish Fuel Poverty Index is available in both GIS/geospatial format as well as Excel and CSV files, ensuring that it is as usable and accessible as possible to anyone who may find it useful. The Spatial Hub itself is designed to be a flexible and scalable solution for anyone with an interest in effectively sharing data.
Scottish local authorities, national parks and external organisations contribute data to the Spatial Hub, where that data is conflated and standardised into up-to-date national datasets. Since June 2023, Spatial Hub data has been available openly to everyone, the first time in the UK that such a significant geospatial data resource has been made available as open data.