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Scottish Housing Regulator responds to ‘bullying’ allegations
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has responded to questions asked by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee concerning allegations of “bullying” and governance concerns.
In a letter addressed to James Dornan, convenor of the Local Government and Communities Committee, George Walker, chair of the Scottish regulator, said the organisation “does not tolerate bullying”.
He said the board took time in February to reflect on issues raised in the media concerning SHR’s governance arrangements and concluded it had a “thorough and robust approach when deciding to use statutory powers”.
Mr Walker was responding to a letter sent by the committee to the regulator in April, asking it to answer questions raised by a series of articles that appeared on website Scottish Housing News.
This included an article that contained allegations of “bullying” made by an anonymous housing association director, as well as a Freedom of Information Act response which found that just one of the 12 decisions taken since 2014 to undertake statutory action was sanctioned by the board.
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In response to questions surrounding SHR’s governance arrangements, Mr Walker said: “We have a rigorous internal decision-making process for the use of statutory powers, which incorporates appropriate checks and balances.
“The director of regulation and the chief executive review all decisions to use statutory intervention powers delegated from the board.
“The board is kept fully informed of the use of all statutory powers and are briefed before statutory action is taken.”
On the topic of bullying, Mr Walker said: “We have a clear and appropriate route set out on our website for anyone who wishes to raise a concern or to complain about how we work.
“Anyone has the right to take a complaint about us to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.”
He said the regulator has not received any specific complaints on the matter and has not been made aware of any made to the ombudsman.
Mr Walker concluded: “It is difficult for us to respond to vague and non-specific concerns raised indirectly through the media.
“However, I have publicly offered to discuss directly with anyone any matters they wish to raise with me.
“Please rest assured that if anyone raises a concern about how we work, they can feel confident it will be handled in a respectful and appropriate way.”
