Local Government and Communities Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Official Report 336KB pdf

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Petition

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Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Housing Associations) (PE1539)

Petition PE1539, by Anne Booth, calls for housing associations to come under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The petitions calls on the Scottish Government to make an order under section 5 of the act to make all housing associations subject to its provisions.

The committee previously considered the petition last year and determined that it would consider it again once the Scottish Government had responded to the consultation on extending FOI legislation to registered social landlords. The Scottish Government announced in December last year that it intends to proceed with proposals to extend FOI to RSLs and is now consulting on the terms of a draft order to bring that into effect. The consultation is due to run until March 2018. It will likely be this committee that will consider the order, which will be subject to affirmative procedure. I invite comments from committee members.

The petition was lodged on 17 October 2014, so we are more than three years into the process. I commend the petitioner for her diligence. It seems like the petition has ping-ponged around committees, the Government and the regulator. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to make an order under section 5 of the 2002 act in relation to housing associations. As the convener said, the Government has issued a consultation on such an order. There is therefore no longer any need for the committee or Parliament to urge the Government to do so. Obviously, the Government still has to make the order, but it is subject to consultation and we understand that it will come forward. I therefore see no reason to keep the petition open any longer.

Thank you.

I agree with Andy Wightman. Despite the length of time that it has taken, the petitioner can be satisfied that she has achieved what she set out to do: the Government has responded. We will deal with the order when it comes before us. We should close the petition.

We all agree. I echo the comments that have been made, particularly the tributes to Anne Booth, who has been very patient and diligent. We will close the petition. The committee can invite the petitioner to provide written evidence on the draft order once it is laid to inform the committee’s scrutiny, which I am sure we would welcome. We move into private session.

09:55 Meeting continued in private until 13:02.