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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made in undertaking a viability assessment for the use of (a) an alternative body and (b) a mechanism to make initial rent determinations in cases of Section 13 rent appeals.

Officials in my Department engage regularly with a range of stakeholders, including officials working in Rent Services Scotland.

Subject to a final viability assessment, the government intends to establish an alternative body or mechanism to the First-tier Tribunal to make initial rent determinations. We will confirm further details in due course.