---

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Dissolution) Order 2012

My Lords, in 2005 Parliament passed the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act. The Act turned the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, into a statutory corporation. The commission, or CABE as it is more commonly known, was originally created in 1999 to replace the Royal Fine Art Commission as England’s champion for promoting high standards in architecture and urban design. Part 8 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act also provided that CABE could be dissolved by affirmative order, and it is an order under those provisions that we are considering today. The order provides for the dissolution of CABE. It transfers the remaining property, rights and liabilities of CABE immediately before the date of dissolution to the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. The order also makes provision for the final report and accounts for CABE, and contains consequential repeals and revocations. The dissolution of CABE is an outcome of the comprehensive spending review of October 2010. While we recognised the important role that CABE has played in promoting well designed buildings and public spaces, we judged that the most pressing need was to protect and maintain other parts of our culture and heritage. As a result, we reluctantly decided to withdraw CABE’s DCMS funding after 2011-12. CABE was jointly funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and, in the light of DCMS’s decision, DCLG indicated that its funding for CABE would cease after 2010-11. Therefore, CABE was unable to continue as a public body, and a controlled closure was implemented. The majority of CABE’s operations ceased with effect from 31 March 2011 and it was mostly wound up by 30 September 2011, when its remaining staff and commissioners left. Some of CABE’s activities, principally design review, are now being carried out by the Design Council CABE, a subsidiary of the Design Council. This is being funded initially by a DCLG grant of £2.75 million a year for two financial years 2011-13. As a result, on 1 April 2011, 19 CABE staff transferred to the Design Council under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. In addition, on 30 September 2011, Engaging Places, the built environment education programme that CABE ran with English Heritage, was transferred to the architecture centre Open City Architecture, together with one full-time permanent member of staff and a one-off grant of £100,000 from DCMS. CABE did excellent and valuable work for DCMS in the past; the decision to withdraw funding was not taken lightly and should not in any way be taken as a criticism of CABE's performance. Indeed, I would like to pay tribute to CABE’s work; it helped to raise the standards of design in housing, health and infrastructure buildings, schools, town centres and public spaces across England. Since 1999, CABE reviewed the design of over 3,000 of the most significant development proposals to come forward during a period of architectural renaissance in England. I am happy to say that the records of these are now preserved at the National Archives, providing a fascinating snapshot of major schemes in the first 10 years of the new millennium. In this year of the London Olympics and Paralympics, it is worth recalling CABE’s role in helping the Olympic Delivery Authority to make certain that good design and value for money were at the heart of the project. CABE ran a special London 2012 design review panel and contributed to the design development of 26 schemes and the Olympic Park. The Olympic Delivery Authority believes that CABE’s advice was vital in making sure design quality was delivered. Although the department would have liked to continue to fund CABE’s work in driving up the quality of design in the built environment, in the present financial situation it seemed more important to protect the wider culture and heritage sectors. Hence the dissolution order before us today. I beg to move.