Housing and Regeneration Bill

I hope that the suggestion that the clause does not stand part of the Bill is not pursued. The organisation is going to be huge and it will need some clear traffic lights about how it does its business. It will be a public organisation, although it is going to work with the private sector, so it has that kind of accountability. Clause 2 says that the Secretary of State may, by order, specify a greater amount from time to time. So there is a minimum, but there is also the coverage. To take the whole clause out of the Bill would take away one of the compasses that the new organisation is going to have. It is sound to have that clause in. I question whether £2.3 billion is going to be enough in the future, but I am consoled by the fact that subsection (2) will cover that. The Secretary of State still has to have a handle, even though it is at arm’s length, on an organisation that is going to be investing substantial amounts of public sector funding.