---

Housing and Regeneration Bill

My name is added to the amendment in support of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins, and I am delighted to see her back in the Committee. To have discussed the earlier amendments without her would have been Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, and we are delighted to have her back for this one. I wish to reinforce one important point that she made. Only one in six wheelchair-standard dwellings is let to a household containing a wheelchair user. That extraordinary statistic means that, when a home that is fully equipped and ready to go for someone who uses a wheelchair becomes vacant, it is being let to someone else. We are not matching the people with the accommodation. A register would achieve that and ensure that everyone knew where those homes were so that they could be filled by people who really needed them. The subject of disability housing registers was first raised, I think, about 12 years ago in Joseph Rowntree Foundation research. They represent an ideal and incredibly important way of saving money and matching people with disabilities with the homes that they need. I strongly support the amendment.