Last week the Scottish Ministers laid The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Designation of Persons as Scottish Public Authorities) Order 2019 (Draft) before the Scottish Parliament for the approval of the Parliament, as they are required to do in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”). This order is a long anticipated order to bring Registered Social Landlords (“RSLs”) within the scope of FOISA by designating them as Scottish public authorities. If approved (and there is nothing to suggest that the Order will not be approved by the Scottish Parliament), it will mean that RSLs (and their subsidiaries) will be designated as Scottish public authorities from 11 November 2019. Some had been hoping that they would have been designated from April this year, while others had been hoping that it would be April 2020. The Scottish Ministers appear to have split the difference and given RSLs a period of around 9 months to prepare for becoming Scottish public authorities.
RSLs have been, following a number of decisions of the Scottish Information Commissioner (which have never been appealed to the Court of Session), Scottish public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 for a number of years. There is, however, some debate about whether they remain so, following some changes to the regulatory landscape pertaining to RSLs. It has not yet, to my knowledge, been tested whether they still are Scottish public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. Whether the changes to the regulatory landscape of RSLs has had the effect of them no longer being Scottish public authorities, for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, is somewhat immaterial; designation as a Scottish public authority for the purposes of FOISA also means that they will be Scottish public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
It should be noted that the draft order has been drafted in such a way so as to make RSLs Scottish public authorities for limited purposes only. They will be Scottish public authorities in respect of the following functions:
- providing housing accommodation and related services and includes anything done, or required to be done, in relation to:- (a) the prevention and alleviation of homelessness; (b) the management of housing accommodation (limited to the management of housing accommodation for which a registered social landlord has, under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, granted a Scottish secure tenancy as defined in section 11 or a short Scottish secure tenancy as defined in section 34 of that Act); (c) the provision and management of sites for gypsies and travellers, whatever their race or origin; and
- the supply of information to the Scottish Housing Regulator by a registered social landlord or a connected body in relation to its financial well-being and standards of governance.
A register of social landlords can be found on the website for the Scottish Housing Regulator.
We are able to provide advice and assistance to public authorities and requesters in connection with matters concerning Freedom of Information laws; if you would like advice and assistance in connection with these matters, or any other information law matter, please contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 299 0880 or by E-mail. You can also follow our dedicated Information Law Twitter account.