Registered Social Landlord and housing: FOI release

Information requested

1. Minister of Housing and reporting dept/Secretary from 1999 to date.

2. Explanation of why 600,000+ social properties where Scot Gov & Registered Social Landlord employer-tenants are the financial stakeholders of Scottish Registered Housing Associations is a Junior Ministerial role & does not attend Scottish Cabinet.

3. Information pertaining to annual grants 1999-2023 made to to Shelter Scotland SC002327, Registered Head Office: 88 Old Street London. 

4. Copies are required for the Scottish Government’s RSL Tenants Objections & Complaints process against the Scottish Government funding decisions and all variants of that document, policy & accountable SG person/body from 1999 to date.

• Copies are required of the Scot Gov: RSL employer-tenants Criminal/illegal staff activity to SG reporting process 1999-date.
• Copies of the RSL employer-tenant staffs Failure to Comply with housing minimum legal requirements as set by Scot Parliament legislation. 1999-date.
• Annual grants handed to RSL‘s from 1999 to date.
• SG Annual report/s on the debt levels of all RSL in Scotland. 1999-date.
• SG annual reports on debt levels before and after grants 1999-2023.
• Copy of the 2021 Fire & Rescue Scotland Chief Executive report to SG about one RSL (having 2 tenants on the same street out of 5000 properties) faulty wireless interlinked systems, what action was taken by SG, also given £15 million of loans provided to RSL’s the decision to remove the loan requirement given these faulty systems & the available funding to tenants.
• Information on SG proposed testing of all RSL interlinked systems given this, and what grants would be available to tenants/distributing of notices to tenants in these matters.
• List of SG independently tested & approved interlinked fire systems for RSL & the Scottish citizens as a whole. Also details of these independent tested & approved organisations appointed by SG.
• Does the SG intend to govern RSL’s as a equality issue under the Equality Minister given at 150 RSL’s that is more than the SG own direct controlled Public Bodies that standards/rent/complaints & failure of Housing Regulator/Public Service Ombudsman are not across the board anywhere level to the most socio economically disadvantaged, including the failures of Scottish Charity Regulator where applicable?
• Scottish Registered Charity Home in Scotland Ltd has £250M debt and has had income from its 2 stakeholders the SG/employer-tenants (Housing Act 1970) to that amount of £250M. The RSC/RSL “Charity” has NO standalone bank account and its funds are paid to the ‘cost savings Memorandum of Understanding’ post 1999 Housing “devolution” as a subcontractor, even the RSL Director is paid by the subcontractor as their employee, the Director has a Chief Executive at the subcontractor MoU and the subcontractor ex Labour MSP HIS Ltd Chairwoman being on the for profit taxable subcontractor as a board member is a conflict of interest, SRC/RSL has been reported for to SG and the aforementioned Scot Parl reporting bodies for almost 20 years, what action has the SG taken itself when over this extensive time period? Copiesof investigations/reports required.
• Your SG Housing Standards Quality Vicki Harris (in the public interest this name should not be redacted from website reply publication due to Public Servant failure of the 7 Principles of Public Service 1993) has not replied to my complaint on all thee above issues from 2021, I request a copy of all investigation taken by Ms Harris under this FOI.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information requested. I have addressed each point below.

1. Minister of Housing and reporting dept/Secretary from 1999 to date..

The answer to your question is from 1999; Ministers or Cabinet Secretaries with responsibility for Housing were; Margaret Curran, Malcolm Chisholm, Johann Lamont, Stewart Maxwell, Alex Neil, Keith Brown, Margaret Burgess, Kevin Stewart, Shona Robison, Paul McLennan. We do not hold information on the name of reporting department or secretary since 1999. Paul McLennan MSP was appointed Minister for Housing in March 2023. The current structure of the civil service has a Directorate for Local Government and Housing, the Director is Sean Neil.

2. Explanation of why 600,000+ social properties where Scot Gov & Registered Social Landlord employer-tenants are the financial stakeholders of Scottish Registered Housing Associations is a Junior Ministerial role & does not attend Scottish Cabinet.

The answer to your question is it is the responsibility of the First Minister to make Ministerial and Cabinet appointments.

3. Information pertaining to annual grants 1999-2023 made to to Shelter Scotland SC002327, Registered Head Office: 88 Old Street London.

Following searches, we can confirm that we do not hold information prior to 2012 as the system used to make payments from 1999-2012 is now obsolete. The majority of the grants and payments made to Shelter Scotland by The Scottish Government from the period of 2012 to 2023 are included in the following published reports. These are publicly accessible online at the following link: Government spend over £25,000: monthly reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. Various smaller payments under £25,000 between 2012 and 2023 are not included. These are:

Supplier	Payment Date	Amount
Shelter Scotland	26-Jun-12	£23,324.50
Shelter Scotland	27-Jun-12	£16,732.00
Shelter Scotland	21-Sep-12	£16,732.00
Shelter Scotland	08-Jan-13	£12,394.23
Shelter Scotland	21-Mar-13	£11,160.00
Shelter Scotland	25-Mar-13	£16,732.00
Shelter Scotland	04-Oct-13	£18,750.00
Shelter Scotland	25-Oct-13	£11,456.00
Shelter Scotland	08-Jan-14	£11,456.00
Shelter Scotland	31-Mar-14	£11,456.00
Shelter Scotland	02-Apr-14	£17,784.00
Shelter Scotland	19-Sep-14	£15,046.99
Shelter Scotland	08-Jan-15	£15,046.99
Shelter Scotland	19-Mar-15	£15,046.99
Shelter Scotland	04-Jul-18	£7,500.00
Shelter Scotland	11-Jul-18	£2,500.00
Shelter Scotland	20-Sep-18	£23,328.91
Shelter Scotland	15-Jan-19	£7,500.00
Shelter Scotland	13-Mar-19	£7,500.00
Shelter Scotland	04-Feb-20	£3,172.84
Shelter Scotland	09-Apr-20	£9,900.00
Shelter Scotland	30-Mar-22	£18,726.75

4. Copies are required for the Scottish Government’s RSL Tenants Objections & Complaints process against the Scottish Government funding decisions and all variants of that document, policy & accountable SG person/body from 1999 to date. 

The Scottish Government does not hold this information . Our complaints process is detailed on our website at Make a complaint - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

a. Copies are required of the Scot Gov: RSL employer-tenants Criminal/illegal staff activity to SG reporting process 1999-date.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

b. Copies of the RSL employer-tenant staffs Failure to Comply with housing minimum legal requirements as set by Scot Parliament legislation. 1999-date.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

c. Annual grants handed to RSL‘s from 1999 to date.

The figures relating to grant provided to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) can be found online in the annual AHSP Out-turn Reports. The information can be found in the table ‘Expenditure by Supplier/Grant Type’.

• Reports from 2008-2009 to 2014-2015 can be found online here: https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20171003091358/http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahip
• Reports from 2015-2016 to 2021-2022 can be found online here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/more-homes/affordable-housing-supply/The 2022-2023 report will be published this year.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. We do not have published out-turn reports prior to 2008.

d. SG Annual report/s on the debt levels of all RSL in Scotland. 1999-date

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The independent Scottish Housing Regulator is responsible for monitoring and reporting on registered social landlords’ financial well-being and standards of governance.

e. SG annual reports on debt levels before and after grants 1999-2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

f. Copy of the 2021 Fire & Rescue Scotland Chief Executive report to SG about one RSL (having 2 tenants on the same street out of 5000 properties) faulty wireless interlinked systems, what action was taken by SG, also given £15 million of loans provided to RSL’s the decision to remove the loan requirement given these faulty systems & the available funding to tenants. 

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The duty rests with local authority to ensure that homes in their area meet the new standard for fire alarms. If there is a concern about RSLs meeting the Tolerable Standard, that would be a matter for the Scottish Housing Regulator.

g. Information on SG proposed testing of all RSL interlinked systems given this, and what grants would be available to tenants/distributing of notices to tenants in these matters.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information. This is a matter for the Scottish Housing Regulator in their role as the regulator, protecting the interests of tenants who use social landlord services. No organisations were appointed by SG and there were no grants for tenants because it is the responsibility of Local Authority and Registered Social Landlords for supplying and fitting the alarms in social housing.

h. List of SG independently tested & approved interlinked fire systems for RSL & the Scottish citizens as a whole. Also details of these independent tested & approved organisations appointed by SG. 

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Scottish Government cannot endorse particular suppliers, products or services offered by others, information is published on our website regarding the type of alarms and British Standard numbers for reference (see Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) for further information) as well as how to contact Trading Standards if there are concerns about services offered by third parties.

i. Does the SG intend to govern RSL’s as a equality issue under the Equality Minister given at 150 RSL’s that is more than the SG own direct controlled Public Bodies that standards/rent/complaints & failure of Housing Regulator/Public Service Ombudsman are not across the board anywhere level to the most socio economically disadvantaged, including the failures of Scottish Charity Regulator where applicable? 

The Scottish Government does not govern RSLs they are independent organisations and their performance is regulated by the independent Scottish Housing Regulator. As detailed in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010.

j. Scottish Registered Charity Home in Scotland Ltd has £250M debt and has had income from its 2 stakeholders the SG/employer-tenants (Housing Act 1970) to that amount of £250M. The RSC/RSL “Charity” has NO standalone bank account and its funds are paid to the ‘cost savings Memorandum of Understanding’ post 1999 Housing “devolution” as a subcontractor, even the RSL Director is paid by the subcontractor as their employee, the Director has a Chief Executive at the subcontractor MoU and the subcontractor ex Labour MSP HIS Ltd Chairwoman being on the for profit taxable subcontractor as a board member is a conflict of interest, SRC/RSL has been reported for to SG and the aforementioned Scot Parl reporting bodies for almost 20 years, what action has the SG taken itself when over this extensive time period? Copies of investigations/reports required.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information.

k. Your SG Housing Standards Quality Vicki Harris (in the public interest this name should not be redacted from website reply publication due to Public Servant failure of the 7 Principles of Public Service 1993) has not replied to my complaint on all thee above issues from 2021, I request a copy of all investigation taken by Ms Harris under this FOI.

Ms Harris responded to you on 27 October 2022, confirming local authorities are responsible for enforcing the new standard for fire alarms, advising you to contact your local authority Dundee City Council directly. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. the reason why we don't have the information are because we are not responsible for collecting it. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

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