Housing and Regeneration Bill

I am extremely glad that the noble Lord, Lord Best, went first, because I have been wondering how to express my support and my concerns without sounding paternalistic. He has been able to do so. One wants, of course, to empower tenants, and all the language I was wrestling with to try to express my concerns about how to do it was coming out wrong. So I should like to ally myself with his comments. I shall not repeat what he said; perhaps I can just put my star to his wagon. There are, however, some small points on the amendments as opposed to the objectives—objectives in every sense—of the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Filkin. I am not convinced that a particular mechanism should be an objective of the regulator. The aim and the outcome rather than the way of doing it is what needs to be expressed in Clause 88. I look forward to the Minister telling us how far Clause 191, especially Clause 191(2)(g), covers points that have been made. This provision covers the standard whereby the registered provider must, "““comply with specified rules about … methods of enabling tenants to influence or control the management of their accommodation and environment””." I had a little difficulty, too, with the term ““structural impediment””. These amendments are about the tenants’ point of view, but the impediments are impediments to the providers. So it took me a little while to understand what that amendment was about. They are not impediments directly to the tenants though they do have an indirect effect. I am sorry that that is going to read more as opposition to the proposals than I meant. I suppose that it is a concern about the specific amendments rather than the direction in which the noble Lord is seeking to take the thinking, which I very much support.