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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Best, for filling in the many gaps that I left. Of course some local authorities should certainly do better with housing benefit administration but the problem in this instance is that it is the tenants who suffer. The noble Baroness quite rightly balanced her response by referring to the position of the RSL, and I understand that. My amendment seeks to give the court discretion, which should be a protection for the RSL. I shall, of course, withdraw the amendment. I am glad to hear about the stakeholder group. I will make the point that a regulatory approach cannot be enforced unless it is so extreme that standards are breached under the new regime. It is unlikely, however, that that would come about. This needs primary legislation. I hope that when the stakeholder group has done its work—assuming that the outcome is acceptance by the Government that there needs to be a change; after all, this has not just come up out of the blue—I hope there will be an opportunity for that legislation. I do not see that it could be done other than through primary legislation. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.