Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Official Report 439KB pdf

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Petition

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

Agenda item 3 is consideration of PE1539, by Anne Booth, on bringing housing associations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. I welcome Anne Booth and Sean Clerkin, who are in the public gallery. They have waited patiently for this item.

When the committee previously considered the petition at its meeting on 18 November, it agreed that, as the Scottish Government has now decided to formally consult on extending the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to include registered social landlords and to review the Scottish social housing charter, it would seek the petitioner’s views on whether she would be content for the committee to close the petition on that basis. The petitioner’s response is attached at annex A to paper 4. In that response, Ms Booth expresses a preference for the committee to keep the petition open.

The committee is invited to consider and agree whether it wishes to take any further action in relation to the petition. Should the committee wish to keep it open, it could be carried over to session 5, given the timings involved with the freedom of information consultation and the charter review. In those circumstances, updated guidance from the Public Petitions Committee sets out that this committee has the option to add the petition to its legacy paper for its successor committee to consider further in session 5. Alternatively, we can close the petition should we consider that no further action is required.

I invite comments from members on what further action the committee should take.

We should keep the petition open and it should go to the legacy committee in the next session.

I am content with that suggestion. The last time we discussed the petition, we were unclear about how the petitioner would feel about that, but given that she has said that she would prefer to keep it open, that is a reasonable course of action.

I am nodding in agreement.

Okay. There is a consensus across the committee that we should keep the petition open. Are we agreed that we will leave it open and add it to our legacy paper for further consideration?

Members indicated agreement.

Okay. The petition will be kept open and considered further in session 5 of the Parliament.

11:43 Meeting continued in private until 12:43.