Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 22: 22: Clause 2, page 2, line 2, at end insert— ““( ) to contribute to the reduction of poverty and to the reduction of inequality of opportunities within society,”” The noble Lord said: The amendment, which is grouped with a very interesting amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, on diversity, seeks to state in the Bill that one of the objectives of the HCA is, "““to contribute to the reduction of poverty and to the reduction of inequality of opportunities within society””." I probably meant ““the reduction of inequality within society””, but perhaps if I had put that I might have been thought rather old fashioned. The Minister says not, so perhaps I should have put that. I am not challenging the Government to say whether these are government objectives. I am prepared to believe that they are, although they have not been very successful ones in the past few years, certainly as far as inequality is concerned. However, the interesting thing is whether an agency such as this, which is about the provision of housing and regeneration, is overtly expected to contribute to these aims. That is all I want to say. I am interested to hear what the Government have to say about this. I beg to move.