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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I underscore briefly one point made almost in passing by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller. She alluded to the recent very steep rise in food prices and the anticipation that for the foreseeable future we are going to have to live with higher food prices. That adds force to the case she has eloquently made for the better provision of allotments. I pose a couple of questions which the noble Baroness may be able to answer in due course. She refers in proposed new subsection (1) in her amendment to a duty on the HCA to, "““provide a sufficient number of allotments””." I wonder how she defines ““sufficiency””. In proposed new subsection (4) she would require the HCA to, "““maintain a waiting list and manage the allotments under the same provisions as if it were a local authority””." It would be helpful if she could clarify what she believes the principles should be for prioritisation in allocation of allotments to people on waiting lists. Finally, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, that these matters would be best left to local authorities.