Common Housing Quality Standard Forum and Repairing Standard Statutory Guidance: FOI release

Information requested

Information on the Common Housing Quality Standard Forum, consultations on the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Modification of the Repairing Standard) Regulations 2019, consultations on the Repairing Standard Statutory Guidance in March 2023 and consultations on publication of the revision to the Repairing Standard Statutory Guidance in February 2024.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested. The information that you have requested and our responses are set out below:

Common Housing Quality Standard Forum

1. The date this forum was first established/convened.

The Common Housing Quality Forum to consider condition standards across all housing tenures in Scotland was established in 2015 in response to a commitment made in the Sustainable Housing Strategy published in 2013. The proposal for a forum was published on the Scottish Government website in April 2014 and the launch event for the forum took place in February 2015.

2. The membership of the forum (including any changes to members).

A membership list at the time of formation has been provided at Annex A1 and a list of additional organisations who were involved in the forum, or who were invited to contribute in some form to the forum during its existence is provided at Annex A2.

3. Whether the forum still exists or when it was unestablished.

The final report of the Common Housing Quality Standard Forum was published on 4 November 2016, and there was no further activity of this group after this date.

4. Copies of any minutes or reports not included in the above website.

The Scottish Government does not hold any further minutes or reports that have not been included in the publication at Common Housing Quality Standard: topic papers - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

5. Specifically any submissions by Scottish Water to the forum whether they were members of the forum or not.

There are no records of submissions to this forum by Scottish Water.

Consultations on The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Modification of the Repairing Standard) Regulations 2019

1. Details of consultations held with Select, NICEIC and any other electrical regulatory bodies regarding the addition of the requirement to have RCD protection within The Repairing Standard.

2. Details of consultations held with Scottish Water, DWQR (Scotland) https://dwqr.scot/ and any other expert bodies including but not limited to the council owned Scientific Services laboratories regarding the addition of the requirement to have lead-free water supply pipes within The Repairing Standard.

We have provided you with an email to stakeholders alerting them to our public consultation on improving standards in private rented sector homes (Document 1). Consultation responses can be viewed online at Published responses for Energy efficiency and condition standards in private rented housing: A Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme Consultation - Scottish Government consultations- Citizen Space.

Consultations on The Repairing Standard Statutory Guidance in March 2023

1. Details of consultations held with Select, NICEIC and any other electrical regulatory bodies regarding the addition of the requirement to have RCD protection within The Repairing Standard.

2. Details of consultations held with Scottish Water, DWQR (Scotland) https://dwqr.scot/ and any other expert bodies including but not limited to the council owned Scientific Services laboratories regarding the addition of the requirement to have lead-free water supply pipes within The Repairing Standard.

3. Details of any other consultations held regarding the specific wording in the guidance prior to publication.

We have provided you with email correspondence, submissions and meeting notes in relation to this element. Details are set out in ANNEX B.

Consultations on publication of the revision to The Repairing Standard Statutory Guidance in February 2024

1. Details of consultations held with Select and NICEIC and any other electrical regulatory bodies regarding the addition of the requirement to have RCD protection within The Repairing Standard.

2. Details of consultations held with Scottish Water, DWQR (Scotland) and any other expert bodies including but not limited to the council owned Scientific Services laboratories regarding the addition of the requirement to have lead-free water supply pipes within The Repairing Standard.

3. Details of any other consultations held regarding the specific wording in the guidance prior to publication.

We have provided you with email correspondence, submissions and meeting notes in relation to this element. Details are set out in ANNEX C.

An exemption under section s.38(1) of FOISA applies to all of the information you have requested. This exemption relates to personal data, the disclosure of which would contravene data protection principles. As a result, where individual officials and stakeholders are named in documents, these names have been redacted.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because it is helpful to understand who has made certain submissions or requests in relation to the information you have requested However, this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting the personal information contained within the materials provided.

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.