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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to cover housing associations in England.

This government is committed to increasing transparency and accountability in the social rented sector.

In September 2025, we directed the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) for private registered providers (PRPs) of social housing, including housing associations, to enable residents to request information about their housing management. From October 2026, PRPs will be required to proactively publish information relating to the management of their social housing. From April 2027, they will also be required to respond to information requests from tenants.

We carefully considered the case for bringing PRPs of social housing within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 but ultimately decided that a bespoke scheme would be the most effective and proportionate way of ensuring that all social tenants can access information about the management of their homes.

The divergences from FOI, such as specifying that only tenants and their representatives can access information and that information requests must relate to issues relevant to the management of social housing, are proportionate for PRPs in their capacity as private businesses.