Commentary on Sections Independent advisory panel Section 15
69.Section 15 deals with the funding of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel. Subject to the cap provided for in subsection (2), the Scottish Ministers are required to provide the financial resources they consider necessary to support the Panel.
70.The cap on the Panel’s funding is set at £82,000 in any 3 year operating period, but this sum is to be adjusted to take account of inflation. The first operating period begins on the date the section comes into force, and subsequent operating periods begin immediately upon the conclusion of the previous one.
71.Inflation is dealt with in subsections (3) to (5). The cap is to be adjusted to take account of any increase that has occurred in the annual average consumer prices index beginning with the day on which the section came into force. There is, however, a power to amend the prices index using regulations.
72.The inflation linking will be done on an ongoing, cumulative basis. This means that any inflation which takes place during an operating period can be taken into account when paying out funds during or in respect of that period. In any calculation for any operating period, the indexing is to be done from the day on which the section came into force, meaning that inflation for the entire period is taken into account.