Housing and Regeneration Bill

I draw the Committee’s attention to the declarations of interest that I made at Second Reading. I am also an adviser to Stockland Halladale Europe Ltd. An interesting set of issues is raised by this amendment and I would like to respond to the noble Earl's points from the perspective of someone who, for six years, chaired English Partnerships—one of the bodies that is coming together to form the Homes and Communities Agency. Some of the points that have been raised have been extremely interesting, because the composition of such boards and the way in which you get that expertise from non-executive directors and, critically, the leadership and tone that such a board sets, not only for the organisation, but on behalf of the Secretary of State throughout the whole sector, is really important. I welcome the opportunity for us to debate these points. I was very fortunate over the course of the six years to have a range of expertise at the disposal of the English Partnerships board because successive Secretaries of State made interesting appointments. It is undoubtedly the case that in the kind of agency that we are talking about here, with an annual investment budget of £4 billion and a wide range of powers, you need a really high calibre board and people who know what they are talking about. I welcome the noble Baroness's suggestion about a range of people who understand housing in all its aspects. However, I part company with the noble Earl on the idea that you should have representatives on the board. Having representation in that sense on a board directly cuts across the governance that non-executive directors undertake on behalf of the body and could involve those people in a conflict of interest or, as a minimum, make it awkward for them to carry out their functions. Are they there on behalf of an organisation or to exercise really good supervision and governance over a substantial budget? But I agree with the noble Earl and the noble Baroness that it is important to have the right mix of expertise on that board—expertise that comes from people with experience in the voluntary housing sector, the funding of real estate and in corporate governance. As I said earlier, I was fortunate to have board members of the very highest quality. It is important to raise these issues and to encourage the Secretary of State to think widely in terms of making these appointments. Finally, on the substantive point about whether this is the right corporate governance structure, it is massively helpful to have an NDPB structure because you have the ability to be clearly directed and guided by Ministers, but you have significant freedom to act, particularly around creating commercial joint ventures and other corporate entities that are important to carry out the work that we envisage this organisation undertaking. We need to have the widest possible, highest calibre expertise available to that agency if it is to carry out its job effectively.