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Leaseholders' Rights Bill

I see that she nods to confirm that, and so I think we can give it our "in principle" support, in the expectation that in Committee improvements and refinements can be made to ensure that we address precisely the issues that are at hand. My hon. Friend struck a very important note about basic justice, which is something that I have come across with my constituents. There is an imbalance of treatment between leaseholders in the private sector and leaseholders in the public sector. I hope that that will weigh compellingly with the Government as they decide their stance on the Bill, given the concessions made by my hon. Friend about amendment in Committee. I cannot believe that the Government, any more than the Opposition, would wish to see leaseholders who happen to be in the public sector being disadvantaged in comparison with those in the private sector. Ironically, they are sometimes disadvantaged in comparison with tenants in the private sector, depending on the attitude of the council and the RSL. There has been a long history of monopolies sometimes being unresponsive to their tenants, either deliberately or because of a culture that seeps into an organisation. I can remember that attitude when I was a London borough councillor, back as long ago as when the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) recalled his experiences in Westminster. When I was a parliamentary candidate in Dagenham, the local authority was monolithic in terms of dealing with its tenants. Since then, things have improved there, as they have in many local authorities, but an underlying problem remains. Under the current legislation, the local authority leaseholder, for the reasons set out by my hon. Friend, is at a disadvantage in comparison with others. I think it right that that disadvantage should be addressed. I agree with the hon. Member for Hendon about the risk posed by contractors sometimes taking advantage of that monopolistic position. That is made worse when the leaseholders are unable to apply the same basic leverage as other tenants would. I hope that for that reason, if for nothing else, the Bill will commend itself to the Government. I was interested, too, to note the lacuna that seems to exist in relation to the Tenant Services Authority, which I was very interested to find out about. I am not seeking to be unduly party political, but it seems strange that the Government, having created two quangos in place of one to deal with housing, have reached a situation where there seems to be a gap in the available protection. Some people—the public sector leaseholders—fall through the system and are covered by neither quango. I hope that, although that does not come within the scope of this Bill, we could sensibly address that failing. I have great respect for the Tenant Services Authority, its excellent chairman, Anthony Mayer, who I have known for a number of years, and its team. Clearly, somebody needs to act as a champion for public sector leaseholders and I hope that the Government will look beyond the scope of the Bill and redress that imbalance as a matter of justice. Let us consider the question of contracts, repairs and so on, and the inevitable pressures, to which my hon. Friend rightly referred, on RSLs, in particular, to seek larger contracts and to bundle them together to seek efficiencies. It is important to try to strike a balance between that and the risk of unfair treatment from a largely monopolistic supplier. Again, that seems to me to be a compelling reason for bringing forward this Bill. It is surprising that the Government have not so far been willing to move on this matter. I hope the when the Minister for Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination responds, she will take that on board. I was a little disappointed last year to receive an answer to a written question to the then Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Salford (Hazel Blears), which stated that""it will not always be appropriate or helpful to make identical provisions for social sector and private sector leaseholders in order to provide them with similar rights and protections."—[Official Report, 13 May 2008; Vol. 473, c. 586W.]" I was surprised to hear that, and even more surprised to hear it at a time when the right hon. Member for Salford was Secretary of State. I would be surprised to hear it from anyone of her party. The wording may have been unfortunate. It is not language that I would like to adopt on behalf of my party, because where we can do so in a proportionate and sensible manner, we ought to try to ensure as level a playing field as we can. As I say, I hope that we can move to a situation in which one group does not fall through the gaps in the system, particularly given that all parties seem to desire to encourage mixed communities; that is certainly the Government's stance. They want people of different tenure to live side by side. I would not disagree with that. That makes it all the more unfair if, probably not through a deliberate policy, but just as one of those perverse consequences that arise from an omission somewhere in the drafting of legislation, one group of occupiers is in a less advantaged situation than the others. I hope that that, too, is a compelling reason why the Government should at least let the Bill make progress, with a view to seeing what refinements can be made in Committee. The other points were compellingly made by my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham, so I do not intend to keep the debate going at any great length. When she responds, I am sure that she will make it clear that the provision on the £12,000 payment is intended to relate to the public-sector leaseholder. In the private sector, there is more negotiating power—power that those in the public sector do not have. With those observations, and the assurance from the promoter of the Bill that she would amend it in Committee, I hope that the House feels that the Bill raises important issues. It is not perfect in its current form, but its proposer does not pretend that it is. It raises issues that need to be addressed, and if it did go forward to Committee, hopefully we could come up with a solution that deals with issues that, on the face of it, potentially lead to injustice and unfairness in the treatment of people. It ought to be possible, with good will, to find a sensible and proportionate means of addressing that.