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Housing Corporation (Delegation) etc. Bill

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for that necessary correction to the exuberance that both the hon. Lady and I feel when talking about housing and Milton Keynes. I am grateful for her compliments—I do not believe that I have much charm—but the people of Milton Keynes are best equipped to pass judgment on whether the infrastructure that the Government and others provide is adequate for their needs. Before I was so politely interrupted, we were discussing the desirability of the Bill and the way in which it chimes with compassionate Conservative credentials. I recognise that some hon. Members retain an understandable reluctance to pass legislation, however well intentioned, that may have a retrospective application. Indeed, several hon. Members have raised that anxiety. I believe that the practical benefits of the Bill speak for themselves, but let me tackle that legitimate concern. Retrospective legislation is unwelcome, and dangerous when it renders an individual liable to punishment for engaging in an activity that he had every reason to believe was legal at the time or inflicts a penalty on an individual for a decision that he had every reason to believe was legal when he made it. The desirability of retrospective legislation, which the Bill constitutes, was thrown into relief by the Finance Bill, which received its Second Reading yesterday. Clause 157 makes retroactive charges on specific trusts, placing a potential penalty on many individuals who wrote their wills, confident in their legality at the time they were drawn up. Indeed, according to the Law Society, the Finance Bill could"““affect millions of ordinary people””" and ““amount to retrospective legislation”” that ““needs to be reassessed””. I hope that the Minister for Housing and Planning, who is not without influence at the Treasury, will encourage a reassessment of that retrospective legislation—not only because of the harm it could inflict on many ordinary people, but because the Government’s willingness to legislate retrospectively with such promiscuity undermines their credibility when retrospective legislation, such as the Bill, is genuinely needed. I hope that I can assure my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough that, in the case that we are considering, retrospective legislation is not about inflicting penalties but about removing the risk of incurring new penalties. In the period since 1985, which the Bill covers, not only the Housing Corporation but all those with which it did business—indeed, every interested observer—believed that it was acting legally in delegating decisions. So there is no sense in which the Bill opens someone to a penalty for engaging in activities that they believed to be entirely legal. Indeed, the opposite is the case. Having considered the principle of retrospective legislation, I want briefly to discuss the principle of delegation and proper administration in the housing sector. The Housing Corporation’s board currently has to meet weekly to ensure that it is acting within the law, and that bureaucratic burden is not conducive to the effective discharge of its functions. Although we want the bureaucratic burden on the Housing Corporation to be eased, we also wish that burden on housing associations to be relaxed. The Bill makes precise technical changes to the constitution of the Housing Corporation, but the House will be aware that other changes for the corporation are in the offing. The Elton review of regulation, and the Government’s indication that they wish to merge the Housing Corporation with English Partnerships, suggest that this will not be the last occasion on which the House has an opportunity to consider the corporation’s functions. Many right hon. and hon. Friends, and many outside the House, in reviewing how the corporation has operated in the period covered by the Bill, will hope that future changes in its operation will address certain issues. How can we be sure that the rate of social and affordable housing being built will recover from the trough of the past nine years and reach the much higher levels of building that we enjoyed under the previous Conservative Government? How can we ensure that the welcome role played by private developers in supplying social and affordable housing is not restricted, as it is at present, by bureaucratic hurdles—not least the hurdles that they have to clear in accessing Housing Corporation funding? How can we ensure that there will be proper accountability to the House following the merger of the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships? How can we be sure that the level of bureaucratic compliance placed on housing associations is not so high that resources are diverted from maintaining homes, or supplying new homes, into ticking superfluous boxes, meeting a plethora of additional targets and complying with ideological fashions? I hope that the Minister will give us an indication of the Department’s thinking on all those matters. The Bill is a necessary measure to give those who deliver affordable housing, and those who fund it, the security that they need to continue their good work. I commend it to the House.