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Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 17: 17: Clause 2, page 1, line 11, after ““supply”” insert ““, accessibility”” The noble Lord said: I should in opening say that the noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins, who kindly added her name to Amendment No. 17, has sent her apologies. She slightly surprised me by saying that she has to go into hospital to have her tonsils out. She will subsequently—fortunately for us this will be over the Recess—be confined to barracks, as it were, for at least a week. Fortunately, we can expect her back and in fine fettle after the Recess. She is very sorry not to be here. This group of amendments has been sponsored by RADAR. We are coming from the general subject that we have been discussing to a specific area; this is a bit of special pleading. The amendment is aimed at getting the Homes and Communities Agency to be more specific in relation to providing facilities, particularly homes, for the disabled. I suppose one should say nowadays that we want homes that are more easily adaptable and suitable for disabled people. It goes into the question of the lifetime home standards; in effect, it is another aspect of that discussion. We all like to think that we are all perfectly fit and can continue to live in our homes; unfortunately as you get older we increasingly realise that we might suddenly find ourselves in difficulties. That is in common with the totality of the community. We need to think about those people. RADAR gave me the statistic that there is a nationwide shortfall of 330,000 wheelchair-standard homes. That is a huge number. If you are in a wheelchair, and you do not have a home that is adaptable for a wheelchair, that deficit is 100 per cent to that person, which is very serious indeed. In relation to the totality of the housing deficit—we have a housing deficit in this country—this is a relatively small problem; but it is something that the Homes and Communities Agency should be aware of and should be taking into account, but it is not written in to its remit. I am sure that the noble Baroness will say, ““Yes, but …””. We have the opportunity to ensure that it is written in, unless the noble Baroness is going to be very kind and say that the Government will think about writing it in for us. There are people in society who need special consideration. Like all of us, they are members of the community. We are talking about the community. We need to be aware of the people in this sector, who are among the most vulnerable and in some ways are the most needy. They may not be a huge, vociferous and demonstrating group, but they are no less worthy of attention just because we do not always see them. I have often thought that it would be a good thing if we all had to spend a week in a wheelchair. I was pleased to hear that in medical training doctors are made to do so, I think for a day or two. It is a very different world if you are in a wheelchair. You cannot, for instance, go up to a hotel desk to check in. The desks are invariably far too high. There are a host of problems when you begin to think in that sort of context, because that point applies equally to the way in which homes are designed and laid out. Worktops can be too high, and so on. We need to think seriously about this. I thought that it was worth bringing it to the attention of the Committee so that we have the Minister’s reaction. It would be better if this were written into the remit of the Homes and Communities Agency. I know that it already has a very wide remit and that it is impossible to write everything into it, but this sector is sufficiently significant. I would not say that it is sufficiently unable to argue its case, because clearly it has argued it sufficiently to get it to me so that I can present it here, but it is probably the least able in the community to help itself. It really does need special consideration. I beg to move.