Private Rented Sector Resilience group minutes: 8 March 2021

Attendees and apologies

• Alice Tooms-Moore, Shelter Scotland
• Debbie King, Shelter Scotland
• Duncan Thomson, Glasgow City Council
• Emma Anderson, North Ayrshire Council
• Katrina Reid, Public Health Scotland
• Nina Ballantyne, Citizen Advice Scotland (CAS) – Chair
• Tony Cain, ALACHO
• Ross Anderson, guest from ALACHO
• Aoife Deery, Citizen Advice Scotland (CAS)
• Ruth Whatling, SG (for item 4)
• Jacqueline Rae, SG (for item 4)
• Denise Buchanan, SG
• Mandy Brown (secretariat)
• Yvonne Gavan, SG

Items and actions

Actions of previous meeting

Amendment to agenda item 4 – to add:  SG THLF team to advise on what support and options available for those who are rejected.   Members suggested there was the need for a non-refundable grant.

Ministerial meeting update

Actions: Please contact CAS, by the morning of Wednesday 17 March, if there is anything you would like raised at the next meeting.

SG to confirm whether the Ministerial meetings will still be ongoing during the        pre-election period.

Catch up on relevant points in action log

Action Police Scotland:  Police Scotland already have proactive comms plans in place regarding messaging which they will share with PHS.  Police Scotland are happy to support any messaging from this group.

Shelter Scotland have already fed into the training for call handlers.  SG advised that training material was previously issued to front line officers and could ask them to recirculate.

Action evaluation of PARs: SG to advise who will consider these suggestions, along with a timeline.  Please provide any other feedback to SG.  

Action ToR: Final version of Tor circulated to the group

Action additional consequentials: SG to contact the relevant colleagues for more information on this consequential funding and report back for the next meeting.

Action meeting pre-election: PRS group can continue to meet over the

pre-election period

Action central database: Landlord Registration team advised there is no central database for landlords.  LAs are data owners for their areas, so would need to contact each of the 32 LAs directly.  It was suggested that could consider as part of

Hto2040.  GGC advised they will provide information on their stats to the group.

Section 11 notices and the Preventing Homelessness in Scotland report

Actions Section 11 notices: Shelter Scotland will check with their statistician regarding what information use to be collected and the reasons why this was stopped.

ALACHO advised they have received information from SHN on section 11 notices, ALACHO will check and see whether can share with the PRS group.

SG to check whether the Housing and Property Chamber could record section 11 notices as part of their stats.

SG will speak to the Hubs to ascertain what information they receive from private landlords.  SG to explore further whether to collate section 11 data.

Actions from report: Members to identify any recommendations in the report in the short term which are related to the pandemic and the PRS sector.

Please contact SG if any further questions or comments on the Preventing Homelessness in Scotland report from the Prevention Review Group.

Update on Housing to 2040

Action: SG will circulate Housing to 2040 report which is due to publish w/b 15 March.

Update on PRS toolkit 

Action:  Please contact SG THLF team with any amendments/suggestions for the PRS toolkit.  SG will confirm the latest date for members to provide any suggestions. SG to confirm timescales for the resource being updated.  Suggestion was made that there could be a coordinated comms plan using social media once the toolkit was updated. Also, that the tookit could be disseminated via the LA newsletters and the tenancy deposit scheme.

Emergency Coronavirus Acts extension and transition

Action: Potential for some LA areas to move to Tier 2 stage of lockdown before the election.  SG to explore having targeted comms for any LA areas which could move to Tier 2.  Suggestion was made that could also utilise the LA newsletters and tenancy deposit scheme. COSLA to provide feedback to the group from the LA perspective.

Action: NAC are preparing their spring newsletter.   Please contact NAC if there are any suggestions for topics to be included in the newsletter.

Discussion of CAS inclusive recovery paper

Actions:  CAS are mapping out the various pathways which tenants could be on as a direct result of COVID.  CAS will circulate to the group.

Members to provide feedback on the CAS inclusive recovery paper proposals and provide any further recommendations/suggestions.

Discussion of draft DHP action plan

Action: SG to circulate the draft DHP action plan once available.  SG DHP colleague will attend the next meeting.

AOB

Action: Shelter Scotland member will attend the next meeting before she takes over the role of Shelter Scotland representative at future PRS meetings.

Action: SG to circulate news release on the extension of loan funds and enforcement action ban.

Action:  SG to check the Teams system as not all members are currently able to contribute to the chat.