Housing and Regeneration Bill

Amendment No. 2, which is tabled in my name, is in this group. It is perhaps not as high minded as the amendment tabled by the noble Earl as I am talking about expertise rather than souls. However, our purpose is the same as the noble Earl’s: to probe what the Government have in mind about the size of the board and, more importantly, who they will look to with what expertise to make up the board, its committees and sub-committees. In her letter to Members, the Minister mentioned the opportunities for particular expertise to be brought in to the different committees. My amendment refers to, "““the desirability of experience of housing provision of all types””." By that, I mean the different sectors, not bedsit to mansion, but public and private, the different types of public housing—rented, shared ownership and so on—and the experience of regeneration. What prompted this amendment was that although the agency is to be a new body—a number of noble Lords have referred to the importance of it not being simply a continuation of the previous bodies—there might nevertheless be a temptation to appoint members who have experience of housing associations as distinct from other forms of provision. This is a probing amendment to ask the Government what they have in mind and is not so drastic as to take out altogether the possibility of board members.