Review of the Scottish Social Housing Charter – Formal Consultation

Responding to this Consultation Paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 24th August 2016.

We would be grateful if you would use the consultation questionnaire provided and it would be helpful if you could respond to the consultation online by going to:

https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/social-housing-services/scottish-social-housing-charter

or you can send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) to:

housingcharter@gov.scot

or if you want a paper questionnaire you can phone 0141 242 5426 and we will send one out to you. The questionnaire should be returned to the address below.

Housing Services Policy Unit
Better Homes Division
Atlantic Quay
5th Floor
150 Broomielaw
Glasgow G2 8LU

0141 242 5426

If you have any queries please contact Annabel MacMillan using the above contact details.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/consultations/current

The Scottish Government has an email alert system for consultations, http://register.scotland.gov.uk. This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). It complements, but does not replace, Scottish Government distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Government consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

HANDLING YOUR RESPONSE

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public.

Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

NEXT STEPS IN THE PROCESS

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages within 25 days of the consultation closing. Copies of responses can be viewed by visiting the library or can also be provided by post. Charges for photocopies are made on a cost-recovery basis. To request copies by post and enquire about charges or make an appointment to view responses at the library, contact the Library on 0131 244 4565.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us produce a revised Charter. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process during Autumn 2016.

COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Annabel MacMillan using the contact details above.

A NOTE ABOUT THE LANGUAGE USED IN THIS CONSULTATION

We use some key phrases throughout this consultation, and these should be interpreted as follows:

Outcome

• An outcome is a result we want to happen.
• The Charter sets out the results that a social landlord should achieve for its tenants and other customers.
• The Charter is not about what a landlord does or how it does it. It is about the customer's experience of using a landlord's services.

Scottish Housing Regulator

The Regulator is the independent body that was created to look after the interests of people who are or may become homeless, tenants of social landlords, or users of the services that social landlords provide. The Regulator monitors, assesses, and reports on how landlords are performing against the Charter's outcomes and standards.

Social housing

• Housing provided by councils and housing associations under a Scottish Secure Tenancy or Short Scottish Secure Tenancy.

Social landlord

• A council landlord.
• A not-for-profit landlord, registered with the Scottish Housing Regulator (for example, a housing association, or co-operative).
• A council that does not own any housing but provides housing services, for example services for homeless people.

Standard

• A level of quality that every social landlord should achieve.

Supporting narrative

• Describes the context of the outcome or standard and gives some examples of what it covers.

Tenants and other customers

• People who are already tenants of a social landlord.
• People who may become tenants in the future - for example, someone who has applied for a tenancy.
• Homeless people.
• People who use the housing services provided by a social landlord - for example, home owners who pay a social landlord to provide a factoring service, or Gypsies/Travellers who use sites provided by a social landlord