Public appointment: Members reappointed to the Scottish Housing Regulator Board

The Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Màiri McAllan MSP today announced the reappointment of Marieke Dwarshuis and Lindsay Paterson as Members of the Scottish Housing Regulator Board. 

Members 

Marieke Dwarshuis graduated in Law from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and her career in Scotland spans 30 years in the public and voluntary sectors in a wide range of roles.  She has held various positions with Scottish Government, prior to which she was Depute Director at Shelter Scotland. She was a member of the team that established the Scottish Charity Regulator and later was Director of Consumer Focus Scotland, as well as serving on the board of Hillcrest Housing Association for a number of years.  Marieke brings expertise in regulation, corporate governance and in leading and overseeing organisational change.  She is now Chair of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and works with the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland as a Lay Appointments Adviser. 

Lindsay Paterson is a practising Scottish solicitor who is currently working on the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry. She is also a legal member of the Housing and Property Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland. Prior to taking up her appointment with the Inquiry Lindsay spent her career assisting vulnerable people with various aspects of social welfare law. She spent over seven years working for the Scottish Legal Aid Board, latterly as Head of the Civil Legal Assistance Office in Edinburgh. Lindsay previously spent over a decade working in law centres in Glasgow both as a solicitor and money advisor. She was also one of two solicitors directly employed by a consortium of Citizens Advice bureaux in Glasgow to set up and deliver a project to deliver legal advice and representation to CAB clients in the first project of its kind in Scotland. As well as being a passionate defender of housing rights Lindsay has an interest in Equality and Human rights issues and obtained a master’s degree in research in Equality and Human rights in 2015. 

Reappointment 

The reappointments will be for 4 years and will run from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2029. 

The reappointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner. 

Remuneration 

The reappointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £192.70 for a time commitment of 1 day per week. 

Other ministerial appointments 

Marieke Dwarshuis is the Chair of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator for which she receives remuneration of £285 per day, for a time commitment of 5 days per month. 

Lindsay Paterson does not hold any other ministerial public appointments. 

Political activity  

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.    

Marieke Dwarshuis and Lindsay Paterson have had no political activity within the last five years.  

Background 

The Scottish Housing Regulator was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. Its objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and others who use local authority and Registered Social Landlord housing services. The Regulator operates independently of Scottish Ministers and is accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament. It assumed its full regulatory responsibilities on 1 April 2012. The Regulator currently consists of the Chair and seven Board members. 

SHR regulates around 140 registered social landlords and the housing activities of 32 local authorities.  SHR’s current approach to regulation is set out in its regulatory framework – Regulation of Social Housing in Scotland.