Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2024: impact assessments

3. Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment

Disclaimer

This draft document is an initial assessment of the impact of The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2024 and Scottish Government will continue to review and update this document where required during the parliamentary decision making process. Any future iterations will reflect an increased understanding of these impacts as the amount of data and research available continues to grow.

This impact assessment should be read in conjunction with the Equality Impact Assessment and the Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment.

3.1 CRWIA Stage 1 – Screening

(Please note, the CRWIA should be started as soon as possible in the development process for the relevant proposal)

3.2 Brief Summary (Guidance Section 2.1)

Name the relevant proposal, and describe its overall aims.

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2024

The 2024 SSI amendments being made have arisen from the monitoring of implementation of the Short-Term Lets Licensing Scheme in 2022 and 2023, and listening to feedback from stakeholders. The amendments aim to clarify existing provisions, or introduce new powers to ensure the scheme runs effectively. See section 2 for a summary breakdown of provisions.

Start date of relevant proposal: 30 October 2023

Start date of CRWIA process: 13 March 2024

3.3 Which aspects of the relevant proposal currently affects or will affect children and young people up to the age of 18? (Guidance Section 2.1)

• Foster Arrangements – The Amendment Order also clarifies that foster arrangements will not require a short-term let licence.

The Amendment Order clarifies that a foster child has the same meaning as it does for the Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984. This has been included to clarify that these children are to be treated as if part of a foster carer’s immediate family even if the placement is short-term and the accommodation is not the foster child’s main residence. The foster carers are remunerated for looking after these children and in this sense there could be confusion about whether this constitutes commercial consideration. This amendment provides legal certainty that this is not considered a commercial consideration for the purposes of short-term let licensing and clarifies foster carers are excluded from the requirement to have a short-term let licence.

3.4 Which groups of children and young people are currently or will be affected by the relevant proposal? (Guidance Section 2.1)

While there is no evidence that the previous legislation has resulted in an impact to children in foster care, there is the potential for misinterpretation. The 2024 Amendment Order provides legal certainty that foster carers do not require a short-term let licence for hosting foster children in their home.

Declaration

3.5 Is a Stage 2 Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment required? (Tick relevant requirement) (Guidance Section 2.1)

CRWIA required - No explanation required, please complete questions 5 and 6

CRWIA not required - X - Please explain why below and contact the children’s rights unit to discuss this decision crwia@gov.scot

Explanation why CRWIA is not required:

There is no evidence that the current legislation is affecting foster children but there have been queries from licensing authorities seeking clarification about whether a licence is required if the foster placement is not the foster child’s main residence.

No stakeholders have raised any issues with the amendment proposed.

This CRWIA builds upon the one undertaken in December 2020 in relation to the Short-Term Lets Licencing Scheme which determined that a full CRWIA was not required. This position has not changed. 8. Impact assessments - Short-term lets – licensing scheme and planning control areas: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.6 Sign & Date

Policy Lead Signature & Date of Sign Off: Jessica Niven, 13 March 2024

CRWIA author, if different from policy lead, Signature & Date of Sign Off: Craig Stevenson, 13 March 2024

Deputy Director Signature & Date of Sign Off: Lauren McNamara, 24 April 2024