Council Housing
Dear Orkney Islands Council,
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act to request the following information from your organisation:
1. Please could you confirm the total number of tenants in council housing as of June 2023.
2. Please could you confirm the total number of newly built social housing within the last 5 years. Could these figures be provided by year against target figures?
3. How many people are under the Council Housing waiting list as of June 2023? If possible, could you please specify the age group, gender and the number of minorities/BME community who are in the council's housing waiting list.
4. What were the main reasons for complaints, categories of complaint and how many complaints were recorded in each category?
Yours faithfully,
Ben Scott
Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
Dear Sir
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information
Thank you for your information request dated 3 July 2023 and received on 4 July 2023. Our reference is FOI 2023-0715. This is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
We are considering your request. We may be in touch soon to ask for further clarification or to offer advice and assistance if we are not able to fulfil your request in its present form.
The legislation allows us up to 20 working days from the date that we receive a valid request, including any clarification we need to make a final response. We will be in touch within 20 working days of receipt of your initial request to provide our response or to seek clarification where necessary. We hope to give you the information you are looking for at an earlier date if possible.
Kind Regards
Sarah Ratter
Administrative Officer
Strategy, Performance & Business Solutions
Orkney Islands Council
Council Offices
School Place
Kirkwall
Orkney
KW15 1NY
Tel: (01856) 873535 Extn 2249
My hours of work are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9 am to 5 pm
Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
Dear Sir
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information
I refer to your email dated 3 July 2023 and received on 4 July 2023, our reference is FOI 2023-0715.
I am pleased to give the information you requested and hope that it meets your requirements.
1. Please could you confirm the total number of tenants in council housing as of June 2023.
1784 tenants in socially rented properties
2. Please could you confirm the total number of newly built social housing within the last 5 years. Could these figures be provided by year against target figures?
Year 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23
Number of new builds 0 0 0 44 0
Target new builds 12 20 12 - 55
Target new builds taken from Strategic Housing Investment Plan 2017 to 2021 & 2022 to 2027
3. How many people are under the Council Housing waiting list as of June 2023? If possible, could you please specify the age group, gender and the number of minorities/BME community who are in the council's housing waiting list.
2766 total people on the council house waiting list
This figure counts each individual separately, not just a count of applications
Age Count
0-17 669
18-25 383
26-35 458
36-45 316
46-55 324
56-65 310
66-75 168
75+ 138
Total 2766
Sex Count
FEMALE 1449
MALE 1317
Total 2766
Ethnicity Count
African, African Scottish/British 3
Chinese, Chinese Scottish/British 3
Irish 2
Mixed or multiple ethnic group 1
Not Known 45
Other Asian, Asian Scottish/British 1
Other British 169
Other ethnic group 2
Other white ethnic group 16
Polish 4
Ukrainian 2
Total 248
Please be advised not all applicants filled in a response for ethnicity.
4. What were the main reasons for complaints, categories of complaint and how many complaints were recorded in each category?
Main reasons for complaints are:-
Delays in service
Quality of service
Failure to provide a service
Complaints Categories
Disputed assessment of the need for a service
Refusal to provide a service
Failure to provide a service
Delay in providing a service
Level of service
Quality of service
Withdrawal of a service
Council policy/procedure
Cost/billing/finance
Staff conduct/attitude
Breach of confidentiality
Discrimination
Complaints 22/23 Stage
Category Stage 1 Stage 2 Total
Council policy/procedure 1 4 5
Delay in providing a service 16 8 24
Failure to provide a service 4 2 6
Level of service 5 5
Quality of service 5 4 9
Refusal to provide a service 1 1
Staff conduct/attitude 1 1
Total 32 19 51
Table above shows housing complaints received in 22/23 and the category assigned to them
Under FOISA, if you are dissatisfied with our response, you may ask the Council to review its handling of your request. If you wish to do this, you should make your request for review within 40 working days of receiving this email. Please make your request for review to Service Manager (Governance), Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY or email to [Orkney Islands Council request email]. Your request must be in permanent form (letter, email, audio tape etc) and should state:
That you are asking for a review of this decision, and
Why you are unhappy with the response you have received.
We will issue a full response to your request for review within 20 working days of our receiving it.
Where the outcome of the review fails to resolve the matter to your complete satisfaction, you then have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. You have six months in which to do so following receipt of our review outcome – see www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal.
Regards
Paul Kesterton
Information Governance Officer
Strategy, Performance & Business Solutions
Orkney Islands Council, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY
Telephone: 01856 873535 Extension: 2241
www.orkney.gov.uk
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