Housing and Regeneration Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Best, has introduced what I would call the uninvited guest to the feast. Whether it is an unwanted guest is another matter. It is quite clear that there is a great deal of support for this proposal. I add my voice to those of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, to say that we really ought to do this now. The noble Lord, Lord Filkin, made the political point—which I might have done but now have no need to do—that certainty about a future legislative programme is something that is not in our control. Even if we had been three years earlier in this cycle it still would not have been certain, but now there is particular uncertainty. Everyone—the sector, the housing authorities and the LGA—agrees that we have the opportunity here. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, I accept that the regulatory processes are not what we would desire. But I have to tell her that it might have come up later in the Bill, because elsewhere in the Bill we have mention of regulations that have had a special procedure. The regulatory procedure is what we define it as. If we amend this Bill, we can draft the regulatory procedure to permit draft regulations to be seen and amended before we have to deal with the regulations. That is technically possible to do. I think that difficulty can be overcome, and it is important to make that point. The noble Lord, Lord Best, made the case that this will mean that a large part of the process of producing a unified domain for the social housing sector is possible if we do this. If we do not do it, frankly, it is uncertain. I am a great believer in availing oneself of an opportunity if it does arise, so I support the amendment. If the wording is not perfect, I am sure that it can be adjusted between now and Report, when we might in any event want to consider it further. I hope that this will be taken further.