Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with the Scottish government on the implications of their decision to bring registered social landlords under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act in November 2019; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending this policy to the rest of the UK.

Through the proposed Access to Information Scheme, private registered providers of social housing will have similar obligations as they would under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act 2000), enabling tenants to access information about their landlords.

The department has had discussions with the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office over on the impact that extending Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA) has had on Scottish private registered providers.