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Housing and Regeneration Bill

Once again, I have some sympathy with the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. Essentially, Clause 33 is in two parts, but paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (g) of subsection (1) very much parallel the functions of the regional development agencies and I wonder what the relationship between those bodies and the Homes and Communities Agency will be. On paragraphs (e) and (f), the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is perfectly correct in saying that the wording is slightly peculiar. I assume that the Homes and Communities Agency itself will probably do neither of those things, and the wording permits housing associations or ALMOs to do them. But we should not have to assume anything about legislation; the legislation should be clear so that we can understand it. The wording, particularly of paragraphs (e) and (f), is flawed.