Housing and Regeneration Bill

I am impressed by the interest this group of amendments has aroused. I thank everybody who has taken part in the debate. I particularly thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. We are interested in precedents, and were reminded of them. If we look at the predecessor Bills and how the constitution and governance were set out, we see that it was rather sharper than in these clauses. Perhaps that is why interest has been aroused. On this occasion Ministers are not shy about putting forward government amendments. I hope to find a little more tidying up, if I may put it that way, between now and Third Reading. On the point of substance, nobody could possibly object to the one-plus-seven balanced-board approach to the board of the regulator. I do not think that was what we were worried about; we were worried about the minimum of three. I told a story about government appointments advisedly because a Minister has often asked somebody in the department, ““Aren’t we getting rather short of board members on such and such a body?”” The reply comes, ““I wouldn’t worry Minister, we’re allowed to go down to three””. Therefore, the numbers in the Bill are important and it would never be a good idea to get down to three. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, talked about ““permits”” instead of ““directs””. I have a lot of sympathy with that. ““Directs”” has a technical meaning in Acts of Parliament and people must comply with it. While it can be acceptable when it is in the hands of Secretaries of State, it is not so good when it is in the hands of bodies which are not democratically elected. I thought that I had dealt with the ““all at once”” point. In the case of a new body you have to try to find a way forward which does not mean that everybody goes at once. If you are recruiting in part from predecessor bodies and recruiting over a certain period of time, also in part, there is no reason to suppose that everyone would have to go all at once. It is a very simple administrative matter to put that right. I am tempted to remind the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, that she and I, on a particular day, resigned from a board together. It was a long time ago. Finally, on Clause 84(4)(e) and misbehaviour, I cannot help thinking that if I were a lot younger I might organise myself onto this board and misbehave. Since my appointment cannot exceed five years, I could probably get that going in about six months. Then I would go to judicial review and see how much I could extract. In all seriousness, Clause 84(4)(e) is a complete hostage to fortune. Frankly, as drafted, it will not do.