< Previous | Contents | Next >

Modernising Scotland's Social Housing: A consultation paper

SECTION 2 SCOTTISH SOCIAL HOUSING STANDARD

In Scotland each year local authorities, on the basis of their own local spending priorities, undertake capital investment in their housing stock of about £350 million a year. In arriving at these local priorities, our research suggests that an increasing number of local authorities have either developed or are in the process of developing a local housing quality standard. However, overall it is not always clear that even where a standard exists there is always a direct correlation between spending plans and delivery of the local standard.

The fact that so many authorities have made an effort to establish a standard would appear to be a clear sign of a desire by local authorities to consider the long term management and investment needs of their houses and to have some objective measure against which spending plans can be assessed and through which improvements delivered to tenants can be measured. In both England and Wales, national quality standards have been put in place and a number of Scottish housing organisations have called for one to be established in Scotland.

Against that background it would appear that Scottish local authorities and registered social landlords would welcome guidance on:-

• a national standard for assessing the physical condition of their stock;
• how this standard should inform the setting of capital plans;
• how to benchmark and measure progress in delivering the new standard.

Before looking at these 3 areas in turn, it is important to set out how the link will be made between the social housing standard and the work that has been taken forward by the Housing Improvement Task Force.

The Task Force considered the need for a cross tenure Scottish housing quality standard and how this might be used. It also considered the main elements of such a standard and asked the Scottish Executive to commission research, which has recently been completed, to help refine this further. The aim is to define a standard which would clearly be more comprehensive than the "condemnatory" tolerable standard and be used to inform the setting of policy objectives and targets. We have taken account of the views of the Task Force and the associated research in drawing up proposals which are set out below. We will also want to take account of the Task Force’s recommendations on the tolerable standard itself. The relevant sub-group of the Task Force has already reported to the main Task Force and its report is available on the Executive website along with the final report of the Task Force at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/housing/pfph-00.asp . The research report "Proposed Housing Quality Standard — Development of Options for Assessing Housing Against Defined Quality Criteria" by David Adamson and Partners is available on the Communities Scotland website at http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/communities/upload/rr12.pdf

What elements might the new Scottish Social Housing Standard contain?

The new national standard will be designed to be a fit for purpose standard but the achievement of it should mark real improvement in the quality of service to tenants. It will set a series of minimum quality benchmarks that social landlords will be expected to provide. Local authorities will be free to set higher standards than the new social standard, in consultation with their tenants, if they wish to do so.

At this stage, no firm decisions have been made about what the new social standard should cover. In making her announcement, the Minister was quite clear that the development of the standard would be a collaborative exercise with local authorities, RSLs and other key stakeholders, especially tenants. The suggestions made in this section about what elements the standard might contain are just that but they take account of the work undertaken by the Task Force (as mentioned above) and research undertaken on existing standards. They are intended to focus discussion on the sorts of areas that existing standards already cover and might therefore reasonably be expected to appear in the new national standard. The final standard itself could well include other elements.

The standard could, for example be made up of a number of housing quality criteria like those listed in column one of the table below. Column two sets out how each of these criteria could be defined whilst column three lists a number of elements that could be included within that definition.

Assessing whether a house passes or fails the test will need to be based on clear and unambiguous benchmarks. Where a criterion contains a number of elements, failure of the standard could arise where one element is below standard or, for more complex criteria, where more than one element fails. In the table, a house would for example fail on grounds of serious disrepair where either one of the primary elements is in need of more than 20% repair or replacement or where two of the key elements are in such a condition.

AN OUTLINE HOUSING QUALITY STANDARD FOR SCOTLAND

The consultants to the HITF recommended against the inclusion of an accessibility measure, as particular needs which relate to the changing usage of the housing stock over time are impossible to predict. In addition, significant sections of the housing stock will prove incapable of providing barrier free or wheelchair access and will never be required to do so. The consultants argued that such dwellings are not of inferior quality for this reason. The Task Force’s view was that the extent to which houses meet barrier free standards, or have features that make it relatively easy to adapt them, was important strategic information that should be available to assess the potential of the stock to meet the requirements of persons with particular needs.

It is clearly in all our interests to ensure that the investment that is going into social housing to deliver the new standard, whether by community ownership through stock transfer or retention, produces housing that contributes to the development of cohesive and sustainable communities.

We recognise that the quality of housing areas (the maintenance and condition of open spaces, hard and soft landscaping and paths, the absence of litter and graffiti for example) is a significant factor in tenants’ and residents’ view of their homes. Maintaining and improving housing environments is an important part of any landlord’s investment programme. However there are technical problems in defining quality or setting standards on these topics. In addition, in mixed tenure areas, where the great bulk of our rented housing is now found, the condition of public areas is not solely the responsibility of housing managers. Given these factors, it is probably not appropriate that the standard should include matters external to the houses themselves.

However, when making investment decisions, local authorities and RSLs should take a wider view of the opportunities that present themselves to make improvements to the immediate environment of the individual dwelling and to the general environment. In considering this, local authorities and RSLs should consult tenants as part of the consultation process that should precede significant investment proposals.

Ministers are also keen that the standard should address security matters, including designing crime reduction measures into new build and refurbishment projects. At the moment all housing projects funded by Communities Scotland are expected to adhere to the principles of the Secured by Design initiative, unless there are some characteristics of the development which prevent those principles being applied. Ministers want to see this approach applied to all housing projects funded by the Executive. The draft standard already contains elements to do with security but Ministers would welcome views on whether there would be scope to incorporate more of the features of Secured by Design within the standard. More details on Secured by Design can be found at:- http://www.securedbydesign.com/

Assessing Compliance

For the social housing sector, our intention is that the standard would be applied on a "pass/fail" basis. The foregoing table offers one scheme for determining whether or not a dwelling complies with the suggested standard. Alternatives may be possible and suggestions will be welcomed¹. If "accessibility for persons with particular needs" is included in the standard, then it may be sensible to exclude this measure from the pass/fail assessment since many houses will never be capable of meeting barrier free standards but may, of course, provide perfectly acceptable accommodation for most households.

Definition of the Standard

Once we have analysed the responses received, we shall determine the key elements of the standard and the detailed areas they should cover and issue the final definition of the standard during the course of Summer 2003.

Setting a date for achieving the new standard

We are also seeking views on appropriate timescales for reaching the standard. Output from the Scottish House Condition Survey this Autumn will provide the basis for producing broad estimates at the national level of the cost of meeting the new standard; Ministers will then set a proposed target date for meeting the standard. This target date will be confirmed or revised once we have in place the detailed responses from local authorities and RSLs setting out their strategies (described in more detail below) for meeting the standard by the target date and the cost implications. In addition to the final target date, Ministers will also want to set interim milestone targets which could, for example, relate to numerical progress towards the final target or could require priority to be given to particular types of dwellings or to dwellings located in particular areas. We expect to issue further details when Ministers announce the proposed date for meeting the standard.

Points for discussion

Developing and reporting on strategies for meeting the Scottish Social Housing Standard

Once the structure and detailed content of the standard have been established through consultation, the next stage will be for social landlords to assess how their houses measure up to it, and what will need to be done to bring all parts of their housing stock to the agreed standard, taking account of the proposed target date. The introduction of the standard will therefore have a major impact on the strategic decisions that local authorities reach about the management and ownership of their housing stock. It may also have significant implications for some RSLs.

Local Authority Houses

Councils will already be considering the condition and future of their own stock in the context of preparing their Local Housing Strategies, which they have to submit by April 2004 at the latest. As part of this process, councils will have undertaken a rigorous analysis of the condition of their houses and of the extent and cost of the investment required. For most councils this work will have been supported through the New Housing Partnership funding. As a result of this work councils will have developed proposals for undertaking the necessary investment including looking at the ownership options of retention or transfer — whole or partial. That work will clearly assist councils in determining the impact that the new standard will have on their investment requirements and therefore on their ownership options.

Clearly therefore the setting of the new standard and a target date, expected in the autumn of 2003, will have a significant impact on the LHS process. We believe that the LHS, or an update to the LHS, is the appropriate vehicle for councils to provide:

an analysis of the profile of their stock against the standard,

• proposals to deliver it by the proposed target date and
• estimates of the costs involved.

However this raises issues of timing; we recognise that producing LHS which reflect the new standard by April 2004 may be possible for, and welcomed by, some authorities, but not others. As a result we propose to offer some flexibility to councils. Those councils that are in a position to do so, should take full account of the standard when producing their April 2004 LHS. This also needs to make clear which of the range of options now available to them they intend to pursue, demonstrating the financial viability of that choice.

Other councils should submit their April 2004 LHS as they would otherwise have intended, detailing their strategy for their own housing on the basis of their existing information, and should take account of the standard in an April 2005 update to the LHS. Councils that adopt this second approach should indicate in their April 2004 LHS the milestones that they will be working towards to achieve an acceptable April 2005 update.

Some authorities will be intending to submit their Local Housing Strategies by September 2003 with a view to taking over the management of the Communities Scotland Development Programme for their area from April 2004. They should continue to submit their LHS by September, but should also ensure that, by April 2004, they either provide an LHS update to take account of the standard, or submit the milestones that they will be working towards to achieve an acceptable April 2005 update.

The information provided by councils in relation to the standard will be assessed using the same assessment criteria irrespective of whether councils submit it in April 2004 or 2005. Existing Local Housing Strategy guidance will be updated to reflect these new arrangements

RSL Houses

RSLs should provide Communities Scotland with their assessments of the profile of their houses against the standard, where possible by April 2004, with strategies for achieving it submitted by April 2005.

Achieving the Social Housing Standard

We expect that over time local authorities, and RSLs, will refine their delivery strategies, consistent with meeting the target date, in the light of better information about the condition of their houses, especially through the local house condition survey process. Local authorities and RSLs will be expected to develop strategies using the full range of funding options at their disposal to meet the costs of delivering the new standard.

Points for Consideration

This information should be submitted in the context of an LHS/ LHS update in either April 2004 or April 2005; the date will depend on the circumstances of individual councils as outlined above. However, by April 2004, all councils will be required to either provide the information, or to set out the milestones that they are working towards to achieve its provision by April 2005.

Much of this information will be needed anyway as part of the move to the Prudential Regime (described in the next section): the framework that will be put in place to govern the operation of the new financial regime will require all local authorities to adopt local strategic planning, local asset management planning and proper option appraisal.

RSLs should provide Communities Scotland with their assessments of the profile of their houses against the standard by April 2004 with strategies for achieving it submitted by April 2005.

Communities Scotland will discuss with local authorities and RSLs how delivery of the standard should be reflected in the regulatory framework.

< Previous | Contents | Next >