Subordinate Legislation
Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 [Draft]
Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012 [Draft]
Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (Premiums) Regulations 2012 [Draft]
Agenda item 2 is to take evidence from the Minister for Housing and Welfare on three items of subordinate legislation that are subject to the affirmative procedure. The first two instruments relate to the Scottish Government’s 2012 homelessness commitment, on which the committee has carried out an inquiry. Those are the Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012. The minister will also speak to the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (Premiums) Regulations 2012. I propose to deal with each instrument in turn.
I welcome the new Minister for Housing and Welfare, Margaret Burgess, to her first outing at the committee. I also welcome the supporting officials: Stephen White, head of the housing options and services unit; Gordon McNicoll, divisional solicitor with the directorate for legal services; Barry Stalker, private rented sector team leader; and Jacqueline Pantony, legal director at the Scottish Government.
The instruments are laid under the affirmative procedure, which means that Parliament must approve them before the provisions may come into force. Following the evidence session, the committee will formally consider each instrument under agenda items 3 to 5.
I invite the minister to make her introductory remarks on the Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.
I thank members for the opportunity to speak about the instruments, which have been laid before Parliament for approval.
Section 32B of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, when commenced, will place a statutory duty on local authorities to assess the housing support needs of unintentionally homeless households to whom the local authorities have a duty. Under the duty, local authorities will need to ensure that housing support services are provided to those who are assessed as being in need of them.
To give effect to the duty, the housing support services to which the duty applies are prescribed in the regulations. Following a public consultation and dialogue with key stakeholders, four types of support services are prescribed, as agreed with stakeholders. The purpose of assessing and delivering the services is to enable a person to occupy or to continue to occupy residential accommodation as that person’s sole or main residence. The types of support that are prescribed include personal budgeting, debt counselling, tenancy rights and responsibilities, and advice and assistance with settling into a new tenancy. The form and duration of housing support will vary depending on the individual circumstances.
The broad definition of the term “housing support services” will allow local authorities flexibility to approach the new duty using means that can be tailored to a particular individual or household while taking into consideration other local circumstances. Our consultation process revealed that most stakeholders were not in favour of detailed regulations that prescribed not only the categories of support service to be covered but the detailed means by which local authorities should carry out their duty. Instead, the majority preference, particularly among local authorities, was for regulations to set out the relevant categories of housing support service.
In addition, local authorities support the commencement of dialogue on the development of non-statutory guidance on the new housing support duty, based on existing good practice in local authorities. We intend to develop non-statutory guidance early in 2013, in partnership with cross-sector stakeholders.
Many housing support services are currently provided by local authorities, so the new duty and regulations should not place an onerous financial burden on them.
The regulations, and the duty that they give effect to, contribute to the Scottish Government’s broader work to prevent and tackle homelessness, such as the 2012 commitment. Housing support is crucial to the livelihoods of many people in Scotland. It enables vulnerable people to maintain their tenancies, avoid repeat homelessness and live independent, fulfilling lives in their communities. Commencing the support duty and implementing regulations will ensure that that vital support is assessed and provided for all unintentionally homeless households in Scotland.
As no members wish to comment on that instrument, minister, would you like to make some introductory remarks on the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012?
Scotland’s 2012 homeless commitment to give all unintentionally homeless households the right to settled accommodation is internationally acclaimed, and Scottish homelessness legislation has rightly been referred to as the most progressive in Europe. Meeting the 2012 commitment will be an historic achievement and will send a strong signal about the type of country that Scotland is, where equality of access to settled accommodation is enabled for some of our most vulnerable people.
The latest published homelessness statistics, which were released in October 2012, show that individual local authorities across Scotland have made excellent progress towards the achievement of the 2012 target, with 93 per cent of those assessed as homeless between April and June this year deemed to be in priority need. Eighteen council areas are already assessing 100 per cent of homeless households as being in priority need. In a further seven councils, more than 90 per cent of homeless households were assessed as being in priority need.
A key part of the 2012 commitment is the prevention of homelessness. The joint 2012 steering group involving the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities was established in 2009. Over the past three years, the group and local authorities working in hub partnerships have driven forward a preventative approach to tackling homelessness. That has led to the success of the housing options approach. Indeed, the committee’s report recognised the transformational nature of housing options and the achievements of the hubs.
Prevention of homelessness is working. One indicator of that is the reduction of homeless applications to local authorities over the past year. We also know that local authorities and their partners are helping many more households than the statistics show, as early intervention is preventing homelessness and helping people into other options that are better suited to them or keeping them in their current accommodation.
The Government is committed to preventing homelessness when it can and tackling it when it cannot, and over the next three years at least £760 million will be invested in affordable housing supply. We also recognise that we are in difficult economic times and we are alert to the potentially harmful effects of the welfare reforms of the United Kingdom Government. We are committed to challenging the UK Government policy when we as a Government think that it is wrong. We are working with partners to mitigate the impact where we can, and we are taking forward plans for the independence referendum in order that Scotland can make its own decisions.
We have seen a huge culture change in homelessness services in Scotland. Beyond this year, we will have a stronger legislative safety net for those who need it, together with a robust embedded focus on the prevention of homelessness. We in the Government are committed to working with our partners across all sectors to ensure that the end of 2012 is the beginning of improving outcomes for those facing homelessness in Scotland.
Minister, you mentioned early intervention to prevent homelessness. The committee recommended in its homelessness inquiry report that money advice and debt counselling should be an integral part of the support that is offered to unintentionally homeless households. Can you explain how these instruments address those issues?
The first instrument that I spoke about addresses the issues because it introduces a statutory obligation on local authorities to provide all unintentionally homeless households with debt counselling, money advice, advice about the rights and responsibilities of being a tenant, and support on settling into a new tenancy.
It is also recognised that most local authorities are already providing that support. Preventative work and early intervention have been recognised as key priorities in reducing homelessness, so we do not think that it will be an onerous burden. Local authorities will work in partnership in many ways with the third sector to ensure that the services are available in their areas.
The committee carried out a homelessness inquiry, and we know that most councils will meet the targets in the legislation. How will the Scottish Government monitor how the abolition of the priority need test is working?
We will continue to monitor the statistics quarterly in any case. We do not expect to see the impact of the target being reached fully until the June figures come out, but we will continually monitor the situation through the hubs and through Scottish Government officials’ interaction with local authorities. It is crucial that we do not just meet the target now but continue to meet it and look at how we can address things if they do not go as we anticipate.
We are also looking at an analytical tool for local authorities to use, so that monitoring can be consistent across Scotland. We are on the second draft of that.
We will move onto the third and final instrument: the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (Premiums) Regulations 2012.
The current provision in the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 makes it an offence to require the payment of a premium in addition to the rent and a refundable deposit for the granting, continuance or renewal of a private rented sector tenancy. A premium, as currently defined,
“includes any fine or other like sum and any other pecuniary consideration”
that is over and above rent and a refundable deposit. Any such charges by landlords or their agents are not permissible under the current legislation.
Evidence suggests that some tenants are being charged for a range of premium fees, predominately by letting agents, and that those charges are often overinflated and unjustified. Furthermore, our recent consultation on this matter highlighted that such charges present significant financial barriers to accessing privately rented accommodation for many people.
Once commenced, section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 will amend the definition of a premium. It will provide the Scottish ministers with the powers to make regulations to include further permissible charges that are not to be treated as premiums. The powers will include stipulating maximum fees.
The Government has laid an order before Parliament to commence section 32 of the 2011 act on 30 November this year. That section will amend the definition of a premium so that it covers
“any fine, sum or pecuniary consideration, other than the rent, and includes any service or administration fee or charge”.
That will make it clear to letting agents and landlords who currently charge up-front fees to tenants—many of whom believe that the current definition does not apply to the charges that they ask tenants to pay—that those charges are not permissible.
Under the powers to make regulations to include further permissible charges, the draft regulations before the committee will provide that only payments in relation to the UK Government’s impending green deal are to be permitted in addition to rent and a refundable deposit. The green deal will provide a means to carry out energy efficiency improvements in properties through finance that will be paid back through a charge on a property’s electricity meter.
We have prepared these regulations to establish clarity at this early stage, so as not to impede the green deal’s potential contribution to improving the energy efficiency of private rented housing in Scotland.
In summary, the draft regulations outline that only a green deal charge will be permitted as a charge in addition to rent and a refundable deposit in the granting, continuance and renewal of a private rented tenancy and that no other charges are permissible. I recommend that the committee supports the regulations and recommends to Parliament that it should approve them.
10:15
Agenda item 3 is formal consideration of motion S4M-04739, which calls on the committee to recommend approval of the Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.
I am pleased to ask the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee to recommend that the regulations be approved, as they will assure that vital housing support is provided for homeless households in Scotland.
I move,
That the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee recommends that the Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
Agenda item 4 is formal consideration of motion S4M-04740, which calls on the committee to recommend approval of the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012.
I think that this is a historic step in meeting the needs of homeless households in Scotland.
I move,
That the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee recommends that the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
Agenda item 5 is formal consideration of motion S4M-04632, which calls on the committee to recommend approval of the draft Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (Premiums) Regulations 2012.
Motion moved,
That the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee recommends that the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (Premiums) Regulations 2012 [draft] be approved.—[Margaret Burgess.]
Motion agreed to.
I thank the minister and her team for getting through that so quickly.
10:17
Meeting suspended.
10:19
On resuming—