Written Question · S3W-37433 · Session 3
In what ways the Scottish Social Housing Charter will differ from the Performance Standards for social landlords and homelessness functions.
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive in what ways the Scottish Social Housing Charter will differ from the Performance Standards for social landlords and homelessness functions.
The answer
Performance standards for social landlords and homelessness functions are statutory guidance that ministers issued under section 79(1) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (the 2001 Act). They were developed in consultation with COSLA and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and provide a framework for the current Scottish Housing Regulator to assess the performance of social landlords and for landlords to assess their own performance.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill will repeal Section 79 of the 2001 Act and replace the performance standards with the Scottish Social Housing Charter, for which sections 31-33 of the Bill make provision.
Section 33 of the Bill requires Scottish Ministers, before preparing the charter, to consult a wider range of stakeholders than was involved in developing the performance standards. These stakeholders include tenants, homeless persons and other users of housing services, as well as social landlords. The charter will provide the framework for the new, independent Scottish Housing Regulator to monitor, assess and report on (and where necessary intervene in) social landlords'' performance of housing activities. This provides a clear separation between setting standards (the role of ministers) and assessing performance against those standards (the role of the independent regulator).
The involvement of service users and others, as well as landlords, in developing the charter is one of the most important ways in which it differs from the performance standards. Another is that the charter can set outcomes as well as standards. This will enable the charter to be cast in terms that will encourage social landlords to concentrate on the results that they should be delivering for tenants, homeless people and other service users. The Bill requires the regulator to monitor, assess and report annually on landlords'' performance against the charter and provides it with powers to intervene where a landlord is failing, or at risk of failing, to achieve the outcomes in the charter.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill will repeal Section 79 of the 2001 Act and replace the performance standards with the Scottish Social Housing Charter, for which sections 31-33 of the Bill make provision.
Section 33 of the Bill requires Scottish Ministers, before preparing the charter, to consult a wider range of stakeholders than was involved in developing the performance standards. These stakeholders include tenants, homeless persons and other users of housing services, as well as social landlords. The charter will provide the framework for the new, independent Scottish Housing Regulator to monitor, assess and report on (and where necessary intervene in) social landlords'' performance of housing activities. This provides a clear separation between setting standards (the role of ministers) and assessing performance against those standards (the role of the independent regulator).
The involvement of service users and others, as well as landlords, in developing the charter is one of the most important ways in which it differs from the performance standards. Another is that the charter can set outcomes as well as standards. This will enable the charter to be cast in terms that will encourage social landlords to concentrate on the results that they should be delivering for tenants, homeless people and other service users. The Bill requires the regulator to monitor, assess and report annually on landlords'' performance against the charter and provides it with powers to intervene where a landlord is failing, or at risk of failing, to achieve the outcomes in the charter.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S3W-37433 by reference.