Housing(Scotland)Act 2001- Guidance on Tenant Participation
ANNEX A
Tenants Information Service (TIS): Tenant Participation Healthcheck
The list presented here is based primarily on the provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and the principles in the National Strategy for Tenant Participation.
It is structured around two key ideas:
- Landlords being open to influence.
- Tenants' capacity to influence.
Successful tenant participation is the joint accomplishment of both landlords and tenants. A "healthcheck" of tenant participation will be interested in the capacities of tenants as well as landlords. Landlords' strategies must therefore include measures to stimulate tenants' capacity to influence.
Not all questions will have equal weight or relevance, given the range of types and sizes of landlords. The questions are designed to prompt a rounded assessment of progress, and to help identify scope for improvement, rather than a simple "yes" or "no". The regulator expects all landlords to provide evidence for how they are achieving against Performance Standards and this will be assessed during an inspection. Therefore, it would be useful to include the list of evidence against the items in the healthcheck.
This healthcheck is consistent with Communities Scotland's drive to encourage performance self-assessment by landlords and is not inconsistent with their approach. It is important to note, however, that the healthcheck is distinct from Communities Scotland inspection guidance and self-assessment questions which can be found on Communities Scotland website http://www.inspection.communitiesscotland.gov.uk /
Reference in the list to "members of the Governing body" applies to councillors in councils and members of the board of management in registered social landlords.
TIS - Healthcheck
1. Landlords Being Open to Influence
| Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 | National Strategy Principles |
Do the appropriate staff and members of the landlord's governing body have a general appreciation of, and commitment to, the national strategy for tenant participation and its stated principles? | | all |
Do the appropriate staff and members of the landlord's governing body have sound knowledge of the tenant participation/consultation provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and of tenant participation practice, generally? | S23, S53, S54, S55, S56 | |
Does the landlord have, or is the landlord working towards, a strategy for the promotion of tenant participation, upon which tenants have been consulted? | S53(1), S54(2)(c) | |
Does the strategy include joint landlord/tenant monitoring and evaluation of progress being made in tenant participation? | | |
Does the landlord invite dialogue with tenants on issues or subjects for review at the stage of defining the problem, or setting terms of reference for the review? | S53(2)(a) | 2 |
Does the landlord invite tenants to bring forward issues/subjects for dialogue? | S53(2)(a) | |
Is the main agenda for tenant participation (subjects/issues) forward planned jointly with tenants and the tenant participation processes appropriate to each jointly agreed? | | 3 |
Does the landlord maintain a register of tenants' representative organisations? (until the new Act comes fully into force, a reasonable substitute question here would be: does the landlord maintain a list of recognised tenants' representative organisations, with recognition and access to resources, being conditional on open democratic working practices and sound control of finances?) | S53(3) | 6 |
Are the landlord's staff and members of the Governing body clear about the distribution of decision-making authority within its organisation? | | 4 |
Has the landlord devolved decision making in ways to make access by tenants to decision makers easier? | | 4 |
Are processes in place to allow tenants to express views to the landlord, which, when received, are given consideration, those processes reflecting the level of tenant participation wanted by tenants? | S53(2) | |
Are reasonable time scales set against the aforementioned processes? | | 5 |
Are tenants afforded the opportunity to take part in the review of service standards, best value reviews, and monitoring landlord performance? | | |
Are proposals for change and their anticipated effects on tenants notified to them in an easily digestible way, with reasonable time allowed for tenants' representations to be made and considered before being decided upon? | S54(1) & (2) | |
2. Tenants Capacity to Influence
| Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 | National Strategy Principles |
Do tenants, elected by other tenants to represent them, have places on, or otherwise have access to, the landlord's governing body to make representations? | | 1 & 4 |
Are there effective organisations or informal networks of tenants actively involved in representing tenants interests? | | 6 |
Do tenants' representatives have a general appreciation of, and commitment to, the national strategy for tenant participation and its stated principles? | | all |
Do tenants' representatives have sound knowledge of the tenant participation/consultation provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, and of tenant participation practice, generally? | S23, S53 ,S54,S55, S56 | |
Do tenants' representatives have the capacity and organisational means to represent tenants both in local areas, and at a more strategic level? | | |
Are tenants' representative organisations competently and democratically managed? | | |
Are innovative ways used to link tenants with common interests, but whose homes are very widely dispersed or remote? | | 9 |
Do tenants' representatives engage with tenants more widely to ensure they represent their constituency with authenticity? (This question should be read to include any minority or particular interests within the community.) | | 10 |
Do tenants respond well to invitations for dialogue on issues and topics for review, upon which the landlord wants to access tenant opinion? | | 3 |
Do tenants' representatives advance their own agenda of issues/topics for dialogue with the landlord? | | 3 |
Do tenants' representatives have the capacity and skills to advance the views of the tenants they represent? | | 8 |
Are tenants' representatives well informed, or know how to become well informed, on the subjects in the tenant/landlord dialogue? | | 3 |
Do tenants' representatives have a sound appreciation of the distribution of decision-making throughout the landlord's personnel? | | 4 |
Are tenants' representatives able to identify their resource needs and access appropriate resources? | | 8 |
3. Landlords Assisting Tenants' Capacity to Influence
| Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 | National Strategy Principles |
Has the landlord, in consultation with tenants, assessed the resource needs of tenant participation? | S53(2)(b) | 8 |
Does the landlord provide resources for tenant participation and access such resources elsewhere, or assist tenants to do so? | | 8 |
Does the landlord encourage tenant access to relevant leaning opportunities? | | 8 |
Are resources in place to support building the capacities of tenants? | | 8 |
Does the landlord assist tenants, where appropriate, to organise activities and events designed to gather tenant opinion? | | 1 |
Are efforts made by the landlord to provide information to tenants required by law, and to make tenants aware of the information they may have on request? | | 3 |
Does the landlord provide the relevant information to tenants while issues are under consideration in tenant participation processes? | S53(2)(a) | 3 |
Are the criteria for registration/ recognition of tenants' organisations jointly agreed with tenants, and assistance given to overcome obstacles to meeting them? | S53(3), (4), (5) & (6) | 6 |