Greater London Authority Bill

The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that we have already taken a series of actions to improve public health and address health inequalities. That includes tackling child poverty, which has a substantial impact on health inequalities. We have taken a range of measures to reduce child poverty, which his Government pushed to shocking levels not just in London but across the country. We believe that we should go further in addressing health inequalities and that the Mayor has an important role to play in that regard. The Bill devolves to the Mayor responsibility for housing in London, to ensure that the directly elected Mayor draws up the capital’s housing strategy rather than committees established by Whitehall. It will be the Mayor who sets out the key priorities for housing investment. That is particularly important, given the serious housing challenges that we know London faces. Housing is one of the key issues in the debate about the planning process that we had today and in Committee. We have already made a series of changes to the Mayor’s planning powers in response to the debate, and we continue to listen and to ensure that we get the detail right. The key principle is that we think it right for the Mayor to have a positive, pro-development role to balance what would otherwise be simply an anti-development role, particularly in his approach to major strategic applications. Having listened to the debates, I think that some Opposition Members want housing not to be covered by the Mayor’s planning powers at all. They seem to be saying that they do not want the Mayor to have an involvement in housing decisions on strategic sites. That is a mistake because some of the big housing decisions go to the heart of the strategy for London and are fundamental to London’s future. That disagreement about process reflects a wider disagreement about substance. There are differences of approach to housing between London councils and the Mayor. In particular, there have been disputes about the level of affordable housing, and concerns have been expressed to us by the Mayor and the Housing Corporation about the approach being taken by several London boroughs to the provision of social housing. It is important that we deliver more social housing for London alongside more shared ownership housing and more housing overall to meet Londoners’ needs. It is therefore important that the Mayor has a strategic role. Clearly, that needs to be confined to major cases, which is why we have had extensive debates on the order and will continue to do so. None of us should underestimate the importance of housing to London and its future. We have had an extensive debate, and I think and hope that there is consensus on many of the measures, on the importance of devolution to London and on the need for some decisions to be taken not at Government level by the Secretary of State, but by the Mayor.