Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 76: 76: Clause 22, page 12, line 14, leave out subsection (4) and insert— ““( ) The terms and conditions on which financial assistance is given shall, in particular, include provision as to— (a) the circumstances in which the assistance must be repaid, or otherwise made good, to the HCA, and the manner in which that is to be done including arrangements in respect of interest and security; (b) the circumstances in which the HCA is entitled to recover the proceeds or part of the proceeds of any disposal of land or investment in respect of which the assistance was provided. ( ) Any person receiving financial assistance shall comply with the terms and conditions on which it is given and compliance may be enforced by the HCA.”” The noble Lord said: The amendment is an attempt simply to tighten up the wording of this section of the Bill. The clause is uninformative. It states: "““The HCA may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, give financial assistance to any person””." That is absolutely fine. Subsection (4) states: "““Financial assistance under this section may be given on such terms and conditions as the HCA considers appropriate (including provision for repayment, with or without interest)””." In fact, if people are going to accept money through the HCA, they need to know in full and complete detail—as I am sure that they probably will in practice—exactly what those terms and conditions are, particularly those that relate to repayment and recovery, which are implied but certainly not spelt out. The wording is inadequate because it does not really require the provision of full details, although I am moderately confident—and the Minister may reassure me—that, with the actual business of making a financial contract between the HCA and a recipient, all the terms and details of that contract will be spelt out in detail. But that is not necessarily so, from what we read in the Bill. I beg to move.