Publication - Minutes

Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group minutes: February 2017

Published: 7 February 2017
Topic: Housing
Date of meeting: 7 February 2017
Date of next meeting: 21 June 2017
Location: MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh

Minutes and papers for the seventh meeting of the JHPDG group, held in Edinburgh

Attendees and apologies

Lesley Fraser, Director for Housing and Social Justice, Scottish Government (JHPDG Co-Chair)
Tom Barclay, RICS (JHPDG Co-Chair)
Rebekah Widdowfield, Deputy Director, Better Homes Division, Scottish Government
Deborah Smith, Deputy Director More Homes Division, Scottish Government
David Signorini, Head of Communities Analytical Services,
John McNairney, Chief Planner, Planning & Architecture Division, Scottish Government
Tony Cain, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (Policy Manager)
John Wood, COSLA
Annie Mauger, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (Chief Executive)
June Deasy, Council of Mortgage Lenders (Policy Consultant)
David Bookbinder, Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations (Director)
Peter Marshall, Heads of Planning Scotland. (Strategy & Policy Manager – Planning & Regeneration, Perth & Kinross Council)
Matt Lowther, NHS Health Scotland (subs)
Nicola Barclay, Homes for Scotland (Chief Executive)
George McGuinness, Regional Network of Registered Tenants Organisations
Malcolm Fraser, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (Director)
Craig McLaren, Royal Town Planning Institute (Director)
Ken Ross, Scottish Property Federation (Chief Executive, Ross Developments and Renewables)
Mary Taylor, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Alison Watson, Shelter Scotland (Deputy Director) (subs)
Professor Ken Gibb, Professor in Housing Economics, University of Glasgow

Others Attending:

Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities
Barry White, Scottish Futures Trust
Shona Harper, Scottish Government
Anne Grove, Scottish Government
Susan Stirling, Scottish Government
Jamie Bowman, Scottish Government
Rebecca Campbell, Scottish Government
Stephen Pathirana, Scottish Government
Andrew Mott, Scottish Government (Secretariat)
Bethany Wilson, Scottish Government (Secretariat)
Éilis Murray, Communication Support

Apologies

Lori McElroy, Existing Homes Alliance
Graeme Brown SShelter Scotland (subs Alison Watson)
Elaine McHugh, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers
George Dodds, NHS Health Scotland (subs Matt Lowther)
Hugh McClung, Regional Network of Registered Tenants Organisations
Caroline Elgar, Scottish Association of Landlords
Lesley Baird, Tenant Participation Advisory Service
Cllr McGuigan, COSLA
Ilene Campbell, Tenant Information Service
Ed Monaghan, Construction Scotland
Derek Logie, Rural Housing Scotland
Heather Fisken, Independent Living in Scotland

Items and actions

Introductions, apologies, declaration of conflicts of interest, minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

Paper: JHPDG 57

1. Tom Barclay (TB) chairing, welcomed everyone to the eighth meeting of the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group (JHPDG), and noted apologies and attendees as above.

2. Members were invited to declare any specific conflicts of interest which might arise in the course of discussions. No conflicts of interest were flagged by any members with regard to the 7 February meeting.

3. The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 8 November 2016, were agreed as read.

4. Action points 2, 5, 9, 10 and 12-14 were completed, actions points 4, 6, 7 and 8 were in progress (carried over as below), action points 1 and 11 had been marked for the agenda of the June 2017 plenary meeting, and action point 3 had been discussed, but no specific data linkage project had been identified or taken forward.

Action Point 1: Secretariat to compile a crib sheet on the economic contribution of housing. This will also include information on tax-related issues from the Scottish Government (November 2016 – AP 4)

Action Point 2: Tony Cain to share the results of ALACHO’s survey of local authorities when analysis completed (November 2016 – AP 6)

Action Point 3: Consideration of a possible ‘Investing in Scottish Housing’ event in 2017 to continue (November 2016 – AP 7)

Action Point 4: Scottish Government colleagues to provide more information on Rental Income Guarantee Schemes (November 2016 – AP 8)

Scottish Government Strategic Developments

5. Lesley Fraser (LF) updated the Group on Scottish Government Strategic Developments.

Scottish Futures Trust presentation on SFT’s work on the use of public sector land for affordable housing

6. Barry White gave a presentation on the Scottish Futures Trust’s work on the use of public sector land for affordable housing. As part of his presentation, he outlined six options for the future:

Using a broker to facilitate land transfer between public bodies
Having more ambitious requirements for affordable housing on public sector land than happens under section 75 in each area
Making more use of land swaps for larger sites in which the larger site is sold for part cash and part exchange of several smaller sites (for use by other parts of government)
Making more use of Public Works Loan Board loans which were currently offering great long-term rates and could be treated like bonds
Making better use of public sector land as part of City Deals, linking with the planning of investment and infrastructure
Developing the off-site fabrication sector through the public sector sharing some of the risk.

Delivering More Homes: setting the scene

7. Deborah Smith introduced this item, prior to members splitting into break-out discussion groups.

Members discussed in break-out groups Paper: JHPDG 59

8. [A summary of the main points from the group discussions is available on the Knowledge Hub.]

Scottish Government presentation on mapping affordable homes delivery

9. Susie Stirling gave a presentation on how the delivery of affordable homes across Scotland can be mapped. [A PDF copy of her presentation is available on the Knowledge Hub.]

10. Representatives from each discussion group fed back to Ms Constance and the plenary group on the main points of their discussions. [Covered in the summary at paragraph 8 above.]

Thoughts and reflections from Ms Constance

11. The Cabinet Secretary set out her thoughts and reflections in response to the discussion points shared by the groups.

12. She welcomed Group members’ commitment to delivery and to working with the Scottish Government, and reiterated the need for members to be specific about barriers to delivery and ways to overcome these.

13. She highlighted the Scottish Government's commitment to delivering at least 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament as a steadfast commitment in an uncertain world and as a central part of delivering a Fairer Scotland. She also noted that the More Homes Scotland approach was flexible and could be evolved as circumstances changed to best deliver the 50,000 affordable homes and boost supply more widely.

14. She concluded by reiterating the three asks made by Mr Stewart at the November 2016 meeting:

Be a player, not a spectator.
Be positive and practical: focusing on what you could do and now.
Be specific about barriers to delivery: we were more likely to be able to solve a problem if we knew precisely what it was.

Any other business

15. There was no other business brought forward.

16. Date of Next Meeting: 21 June 2017

Action Points

Action Point 2: Tony Cain to share the results of ALACHO’s survey of local authorities when analysis completed (November 2016 – AP 6) Completed.

Action Point 3: Consideration of a possible ‘Investing in Scottish Housing’ event in 2017 to continue (November 2016 – AP 7) Ongoing.

Action Point 4: Scottish Government colleagues to provide more information on Rental Income Guarantee Schemes (November 2016 – AP 8) To be circulated shortly.