Amendments to House Sales Scheme: Consultation Questionnaire

Overview

This questionnaire forms part of a public consultation seeking your views on proposed changes to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) House Sales Scheme, as well as on the longer-term future of the Scheme.

The consultation invites feedback on:

• Five proposed amendments to the current House Sales Scheme, which have been endorsed by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive Board;
• The proposed transitional arrangements, including their design and duration, to support the introduction of these amendments; and
• Wider issues relating to the future of the Scheme, which may be the subject of further consultation. These include matters such as eligibility criteria and key features of the Scheme, including the level of discount.

This consultation is being carried out by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive under Article 3(6) of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1983. Your views will help inform future decisions about the operation and development of the House Sales Scheme.

Why your views matter

The Housing Executive welcomes any comments you wish to make on all of the proposals or just on those issues that are of particular interest to you in the consultation.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Confidentiality of Consultations

The Housing Executive will publish a summary of responses following completion of the consultation process. Your response, and all other responses to the consultation, may be disclosed on request. The Housing Executive can only refuse to disclose information in exceptional circumstances. Before you submit your response, please read the paragraphs below on the confidentiality of consultations and they will give you guidance on the legal position about any information given by you in response to this consultation.

The Freedom of Information Act gives the public the public a right of access to any information held by a public authority, namely the Housing Executive in this case. This right of access to information includes information provided in response to a consultation. However, it does have the responsibility to decide whether any information provided by you in response to this consultation, including information about your identity should be made public or treated as confidential, although this will also be guided by Data Protection legislation.

The means that information provided by you in response to the consultation is unlikely to be treated as confidential, except in very particular circumstances. The Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice on the Freedom of Information Act provides that:

• The Housing Executive should only accept information from third parties in confidence if it is necessary to obtain that information in connection with the exercise of any of the Housing Executive’s functions and it would not otherwise be provided.
• The Housing Executive should not agree to hold information received from third parties ‘in confidence’ which is not confidential in nature.
• Acceptance by the Housing Executive of confidentiality provisions must be for good reasons, capable of being justified to the Information Commissioner.

For further information about confidentiality of responses please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (or see the website at: http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/)