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Scottish Information Commissioner raises concerns over deregulation bill
Scotland’s Information Commissioner has objected to the Scottish Government’s bill to deregulate the country’s housing associations, saying it would accidentally remove them from the scope of Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).
The Housing Amendment (Scotland) Bill seeks to remove enough regulations over housing associations for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to once again classify them as private rather than public bodies. The UK government took a similar approach last year and the sector was recently reclassified by the ONS.
Margaret Keyse, acting information commissioner for Scotland, said in a paper for MSPs considering the bill that restoring associations’ status as private bodies “could have the unintended, but highly significant, consequence of weakening further the limited (and variable) public right of access to information about social housing in Scotland”.
Associations are not covered by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) legislation, but the EIR requires them to make disclosures on environmental matters.
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Ms Keyse said this created unfairness as council tenants could make FOIA requests to their landlord on any subject they chose, while association tenants were denied this right and losing the EIR would worsen their position.
Associations are subject to the EIR through the Scottish public authority regulations, which would cease were they private bodies.
The Scottish Government has consulted on extending FOIA legislation to associations but is yet to take a decision.
Under the bill, the Scottish Housing Regulator will no longer require landlords to seek its consent for property disposals and it will only be able to appoint a special manager – or remove governing body members and senior staff – where a breach of legislation or regulatory standards has occurred.
In evidence to the MSPs, the regulator said the removal of consent requirements would increase risk, but limiting its powers to intervene and to remove officers would make little difference as “our view is that our current practice in relation to appointments and removals will continue to be consistent with the legislation after the amendments are made”.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations said it fully supported the bill.
