Scottish housing associations to be subject to FOI

The announcement came despite a government statement in June that said ministers were “not currently persuaded of the merits of extending coverage to housing associations”.

On Friday, Joe FitzPatrick, Scottish minister for parliamentary business, said: “I intend to formally consult the [registered social landlord (RSL)] sector next year with a view to extending coverage of [Freedom of Information (FOI)] legislation to RSLs – linked to the review of the Scottish Social Housing Charter.”

Inside Housing understands that change in approach was a result of strong lobbying from tenants and persuasion by the Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew.

Ms Agnew said publicly in January that the government should consider making housing associations subject to FOI.

The move means that Scottish housing associations could come within the scope of FOI laws by 2017.

Scottish associations are already subject to Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations, meaning they have to disclose information relating to the environment.

Peter Howden, chair of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, said it would be hard to campaign against FOI “because it would look as if our members had something to hide”.

“But we’re worried about associations being dragged into time-consuming and expensive processes to deal with FOI requests,” he added. 

“Particularly in smaller associations, compliance with the bureaucratic FOI procedures can divert staff away from providing services to tenants. It also means more of tenants’ money going to lawyers as associations take advice on matters such as what is and isn’t covered by FOI.”

A number of social landlords, including Scotland’s largest housing association Wheatley Group, have lobbied against becoming subject to FOI.

The change would not affect English or Welsh housing associations, although then-Communities Secretary Eric Pickles told Inside Housing in April: “The housing association sector needs to embrace this voluntarily, or else, face this at a regulatory or legislative level down the line.”​

On Friday, the Office for National Statistics reclassified English housing associations as part of the public sector following increased government controls. Scottish landlords are as yet unaffected by that change.