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Affordable Housing

I would be happy to meet my hon. Friends and I am sorry to hear about their difficulties. We expect local authorities to take seriously the need for affordable housing that is genuinely affordable in their areas. I should like to deal briefly with some of the other points that the Select Committee raised and that were mentioned in the debate, especially climate change and the way in which we ensure that, as we build the additional homes that we need for the future, they are properly sustainable for the next generation. That means that we must build to much higher environmental standards. The Committee highlighted that and referred to the need to improve the code for sustainable homes. We are doing that and we will publish it next week. We shall also publish a new planning policy statement on climate change as well as the revised code for sustainable homes. We will set out a timetable to introduce the code standards into building regulations, as the Committee suggested, to achieve the targets that the Chancellor set so that, in 10 years, all new homes should be built at a zero carbon rating. No other country has set that sort of timetable or ambition but I believe that we need to do it to drive the environmental technologies of the future and ensure that we are building the homes of the future.