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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I will not debate the adequacy of Report stage, given the large number of amendments. I have expressed a view elsewhere on that subject and I alluded to it earlier in our proceedings this evening. I was simply correcting the implication that we had the amendments only at this late stage, because much of the work was done at an earlier stage. I welcome that because the Bill as originally drafted had defects, which I outlined on Second Reading and in Committee, and I welcome the positive response of my hon. Friend the Minister who listened and considered carefully, and who introduced amendments. It is important, given that the National Housing Federation has been referred to, to put on the record the comments made by David Orr, chief executive of the federation, who wrote in this week's Inside Housing:"““The fact that ministers were prepared to alter the bill, which is due to become law within the next few days, shows them in a very positive light. It proves they are willing to listen and, where appropriate, change their minds.””" I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Minister for showing exactly those characteristics in the way in which the Bill has been improved. I particularly welcome the further change in respect of the anxieties among registered social landlords that they could technically find themselves subject to enforcement proceedings by the new authority simply because of a failure to meet a standard. The possibility that a transfer of land or amalgamation or transfer of management powers could be justified simply on the basis of a failure to meet a particular standard has now been removed by the amendment to which my hon. Friend the Minister referred earlier, so there is a further safeguard there. My main concern is that a new authority is coming into existence—I welcome the change of name, as the new one is much better than the previous one—with considerable expectation on it. I share the view about the competence of the new chairman and the new chief executive. Anthony Mayer was, of course, a distinguished former chief executive of the Housing Corporation, so he is very familiar with the processes of overseeing the work of housing associations. I am sure that he will bring to his new role as chairman of the authority considerable insight, expertise and acumen, which will benefit it greatly. Peter Marsh, the deputy chief executive of the Housing Corporation, comes in with similar expertise as the new chief executive. My worry is that the new authority will be expected to do an enormous amount in a relatively short period of time. Not only will it have to create the new regulatory regime for housing associations but it will, perfectly properly, have to extend that to cover local authorities and arm's length management organisations, too. That is a good objective that also imposes additional burdens. It will have to put in place complex procedures for ensuring that tenants are empowered, engaged and consulted on the procedures. At the same time, it will have to pay heed—this will be a strong priority in the current market circumstances—to the need to ensure the viability of social housing providers, who might well be under a certain pressure because of the impact of the credit crunch. We know from the story of the Ujima housing association at the end of last year and the beginning of this year how extremely important it is to have an effective regulatory regime that can intervene quickly and effectively to reassure lenders and tenants when there has been possible mismanagement or a failure by a registered social landlord to maintain proper standards and when, as a consequence, there is a risk of those tenants losing their homes or of the association going into insolvency. In that situation it is clearly necessary for the new regulator to act quickly, decisively and effectively. I believe that the powers created in legislation enable that to happen. Inevitably, there is a tension between acting swiftly and effectively and ensuring a proper consultation and opportunity for everyone to have their say, including the body concerned and its tenants. In its early months, the new authority will face some serious challenges in ensuring that it has effective machinery in place that will command the confidence of the lenders and ensure the integrity of social housing providers while, at the same time, putting in place all the other procedures for effective tenant engagement and responsiveness to tenant aspirations. I hope that we have an implementation timetable that will ensure that all those tasks can be done in an orderly but effective manner. It would be a tragedy for social housing if the new procedures were not introduced effectively or if there was any possibility that individual cases that caused concern might fall through the net. I do not want to exaggerate the risk, although there has been evidence in the past few days of another registered social landlord being brought under supervision because of concerns about the way its affairs have been managed. This is a germane issue and I hope that the Minister will give considerable attention once the Bill is an Act to ensuring that the implementation procedure is carried forward in a way that enables the authority to meet its considerable responsibilities effectively.