Local Government and Communities Committee
Meeting date: Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Official Report 450KB pdf
Contents
Petitions
Pre-1989 Scottish Secure Tenants (Rights) (PE1743)
Petition PE1743, from John Foster, on behalf of Govan Community Council, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 to prevent disproportionate rent increases being set for Scottish secure tenants. We last considered the petition on 18 November 2020 and agreed to write to the Scottish Government to indicate our agreement with the tenant that the matter should be addressed as a matter of fairness, by legislative amendment if necessary.
I invite members to consider next steps in the light of the response that has been received, as set out in paragraph 12 of the clerk’s paper. We might wish to consider what action to take. Under the Parliament’s standing orders, our options are: to refer the petition to the Scottish ministers, another committee or any other person or body, for them to take such action as they consider appropriate; to report to the Parliamentary Bureau or to the Parliament; to take any other action that we consider to be appropriate; or to close the petition. Do members have suggestions about what the committee might prefer to do?
I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests in relation to my former employment with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.
It would be useful if the issue could be addressed in the next session of Parliament, because it has not been completely addressed. I note that the papers that we got from Scottish Government this week say that it is looking at issues to do with rent; the petition needs to be on that agenda.
Are you suggesting that we draw the petition to the attention of the future committee on local government?
The petition should be drawn to the attention of whichever committee is responsible for the topic.
I think that that is the default position, anyway. If we do not propose any further action, the petition will not be closed but will be carried forward to the next session. The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning has said that he does not intend to change legislation on the issue, but the Government will be keeping it under review. I would let the petition be carried forward to the next session, by default.
I agree with that. I think that there will be a new housing bill; the issue should be looked at as part of that.
Our action is quite clear: we will let the petition go and it will be dealt with by whichever future committee is responsible for the topic.
Scottish Landlord Register (Review) (PE1778)
Petition PE1778, by David Findleton, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review the effectiveness of the Scottish landlord register scheme. We last considered the petition on 18 November 2020, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Association of Landlords to seek views on the issues that are raised in the petition. I invite comments from members on next steps, in the light of the responses that have been received, as set out in paragraphs 24 to 29 of the clerk’s paper.
As there are no comments, I suggest that we do with this petition what we decided to do with the previous one: take no action and let it run on to the next session, to be considered by whichever committee will deal with it.
That concludes the public business of the meeting. We will shortly resume the meeting in private on Microsoft Teams.
Before we do that, as this might be our final public meeting I record our thanks to all those who have contributed to the work of the committee over the past 5 years: all the stakeholders who gave evidence, all the people behind the scenes here at the Parliament—the Scottish Parliament information centre researchers, the official report, broadcasting, the committee engagement unit, security and everyone else who has helped along the way.
In particular, I thank the clerks. We have had great support from them over the past few years, without which we would have not been able to do our job.
I also thank all my fellow committee members—past and present—for their dedication to and hard work for the committee, and I wish all those who are not returning next session all the very best in their lives beyond the Scottish Parliament. I give a big “Thank you” to members who have been on the committee for quite some time; everybody has played a really important role and I thank you all for your support.
One of the good things about the committee is that we have dealt with differences in a really positive way. We have always tried to make sure that we get the best result for the people who have come before us and whose issues we deal with.
09:09 Meeting continued in private until 09:57.Previous
Subordinate Legislation