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Scottish associations reject FOI call
The body representing Scottish housing associations has warned that subjecting its members to freedom of information laws would have a detrimental effect on other areas of their work.
Responding to calls for housing associations to be included in the scope of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) said its members are ‘actively focused on being open and transparent in their activities’.
But it added that ‘dealing with Freedom of Information requests increases their administrative workload and detracts from other areas of work’.
The warning comes a week after Scotland’s Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, said that the transfer of local authority stock to housing associations has ‘eroded’ the public’s ability to access information.
Speaking before the annual Freedom of Information Conference in Edinburgh last Thursday, Ms Agnew said this loss of information rights is ‘a loss not only to the households themselves but to the public at large, calling to question whether such a vital service can truly be open and accountable’.
A petition has also been lodged with Scottish Parliament calling on housing associations to be subject to Freedom of Information, with petitioners Anne Booth and Sean Clerkin having given evidence to the Public Petitions Committee at Holyrood last Tuesday.
Mr Clerkin, who is the chair of Glasgow Home Owners’ Campaign, said the key issue was whether housing associations are classed as private or public bodies. ‘The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations still insists that housing associations in Scotland are private bodies but they’re not. They get public subsidy, they provide social housing, they help carry government policy. They can’t hide behind that,’ he said.
Ms Agnew is preparing a report on how freedom of information rights can remain intact in the face of increased privatisation of public services, which will be published in January.
