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Home Affairs and Communities

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. Labour Members should not mock the role of the specials. It should not be forgotten that the specials work voluntarily. I wanted to make a point about community safety and the danger of taking a short-term view. Central Government funding for four out of five community safety warden schemes ran out on 31 March this year. That kind of gimmick does no good to communities. I wonder who criminals thought the real fools were the following day. As the legislative programme unfolds, the country will be watching with interest to see what measures the Government will put in place to address the growing crisis in housing affordability. So soon after you urged Ministers to make their announcements in Parliament rather than through the media, Mr. Speaker, the drip-feed news over the weekend of the Government’s shared equity proposals plainly ignored this advice. Why did they not use the occasion of the Queen’s Speech to announce their shared equity proposals tonight? In any event, the announcement will pre-empt their consultation period on the homebuy scheme, which is due to run until the end of September. There is also a serious omission from the Queen’s Speech: the lack of measures to tackle the shameful rise in homelessness. I look forward to hearing what action the Government will take on homelessness and on creating communities that are safe, sustainable and socially cohesive.