We have before us a public petition, PE101, from Milton Housing Forum. Members have received the papers. This is similar to other petitions that we have received. It calls for a moratorium on housing stock transfers. Martin Verity has produced a paper.
Official Report · Committee
Petition (Housing Stock Transfer)
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- Margaret Curran Lab 8
- Fiona Hyslop SNP 2
- John McAllion Lab 2
- Cathie Craigie Lab 1
- Robert Brown LD 1
- Alex Neil SNP 1
The record
16 contributionsHow many of those petitions have we received? There are obviously grave concerns as organisations from across Scotland are putting those in.
We have received eight. I think that a number are going through the Public Petitions Committee.
Could the clerk to the Public Petitions Committee clarify whether a letter from one person is a petition? Four people have signed this one, but is a letter from one person a petition?
The convener of the Public Petitions Committee might be able to help us.
Any individual, organisation or corporate body has the right to petition the Scottish Parliament.
So one person could write a letter?
Yes. Frank Harvey does so regularly.
Yes, we know Mr Harvey.
Have the petitions that we have received been from organisations?
Yes, they have been from tenants associations and the like. Their wording has been similar.
This petition is more modest than some, in that it relates specifically to tenant involvement in the process. Concern has been expressed from many sources—for example, in Glasgow and Dundee—about people not being involved in the process from the beginning.
I hope that in the letters that we send out in response to those petitions we make it clear that we are investigating housing stock transfers and that we take those issues seriously. It is not as if we are not dealing with those issues, although we might be dealing with them differently from the way in which the petitioners first imagined.
The other important point is that none of those transfers will take place prior to our report being issued. Our previous decision was to consider calling for a moratorium in the report that results from the inquiry.
It will be an option to call for a moratorium in the report. Whether we do so is a matter for us to consider when we discuss the report. We must make it clear to petitioners that this issue will be dealt with in the context of our report. Does the committee accept the recommendation that the committee is invited to take the issues raised in the petitions into account as part of its wider consideration of the housing stock transfer issue?
Members indicated agreement
In this meeting
Everything on 22 Mar 2000 →- Scottish Parliament Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector Committee Wednesday 22 March 2000 (Morning) Committee business · 2
- Housing Revenue Account General Fund Contribution Limits (Scotland) Order 2000 (SSI 2000/33) Subordinate legislation · 44
- Housing Support Grant (Scotland) Order 2000 (SSI 2000/Draft) Subordinate legislation · 60
- Charities (Exemption from Accounting Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (SSI 2000/49) Subordinate legislation · 9
- Petition (Housing Stock Transfer) Petitions · 16
- Drug Inquiry Committee business · 28
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