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Housing and Regeneration Bill

We need to give credit where it is due. When this debate opened, the position in relation to the independence of registered social landlords was in greater jeopardy than it was with the clause that we have before us now. When this debate started, the intention was that the Secretary of State would have the power to direct the regulator in all respects in relation to every standard that the regulator might, or might not, dream up. That extensive power has now been much curtailed thanks to hard work by the National Housing Federation and particularly by colleagues in Committee in the other place. I pay tribute to Nick Raynsford and Sir George Young—probably the two most distinguished post-war housing Ministers, with the exception of those occupying such posts today. They carefully worked their way through the clause and we have ended up with one in which it is simply the quality of accommodation, the rent and the involvement of tenants in the management of their organisation’s affairs on which the Secretary of State could direct the regulator. In early discussions on this matter, I remember the example used to illustrate the extent to which the Secretary of State—through, no doubt, the wishes of the then Minister of Housing—might reach out with the respect agenda in requiring housing associations to behave in particular ways toward tenants behaving anti-socially, when ASBOs might be issued. That was the concern of the Minister at the start of our discussions. A little later, we had a change of Minister. The successor Minister is, I know, very keen that registered social landlords use some of their powers to help tackle worklessness, but neither of those matters is directly concerned with the provision of housing. The ways in which registered social landlords might go about those tasks, even though they are very important, will vary, and the Government will not always get right the way that they might prescribe activity under those headings. I was extremely pleased that the Government backed down and recognised that, in most respects, the regulator should be left to decide these standards on their own. Some have gone further and said that the regulator should be confined to the same three core areas of activity as registered social landlords. However, I know from my experience that a Housing Minister is much more likely than a regulator to come up with an exciting, new, innovative policy that is not entirely related to the ways in which housing associations and other social landlords might wish to behave. Regulators are in my experience rather more constrained and are concerned directly with the regulation of the function of the organisation. I feel much less threatened now by the independence of this sector than when the Bill started out. I went to the annual general meeting reception of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations yesterday. The Minister for the Third Sector, Phil Hope, gave an excellent speech, telling us that the independence of the voluntary sector was its most precious asset. The ability for organisations to run their own affairs, for their own boards to take charge and be independent and autonomous, is the essence of this sector, of which the housing associations, registered social landlords and social housing providers are part. It is well worth our considering these amendments and seeing how best we can improve and enhance the independence of the organisations to which the regulator’s work refers, but we also need to pay tribute to government for retreating from the opportunity to make much more draconian interventions.