Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 87: 87: After Clause 61, insert the following new Clause— ““Power to extend scope of Part 2 (1) The Secretary of State may make regulations providing for additional bodies to be included in the definition of English bodies. (2) In making regulations, the Secretary of State shall aim to ensure that the effect of including additional bodies in the definition of English bodies is to extend the regulation of social housing in England in accordance with this Part to include other providers of social housing; and in particular, the regulations may extend the regulation of social housing to— (a) a local housing authority within the meaning of section 1 of the Housing Act 1985 (c. 68) (local housing authorities), and (b) a person controlled by a local housing authority. (3) In addition to the regulations under subsection (1), the Secretary of State may by order provide for consequential changes to this Part which the Secretary of State considers necessary or expedient to permit or facilitate the regulation of social housing in England; and in particular, the order may modify or exclude the application of certain provisions of this Part to— (a) a local housing authority within the meaning of section 1 of the Housing Act 1985, and (b) a person controlled by a local housing authority. (4) In making regulations or orders under this section, the Secretary of State shall aim to ensure that the effect is to create a single regulator for social housing in England; and in particular, the Secretary of State shall enable the regulator to regulate local housing authorities and persons controlled by a local housing authority using powers provided under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (c. 28). (5) The regulations or order under this section shall not be made unless a draft has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament; and the regulations shall be made by statutory instrument.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, this seems a rather late hour at which to move this amendment, but I will do my best to see us through it. It is a substantive amendment concerning the extension of the role of the Tenant Services Authority to cover council tenants as well as the housing association tenants currently within the scope of the legislation. This would bring in 100 arm’s-length management organisations (ALMOs) and their tenants and perhaps about 100 local authorities that continue to provide social housing and their tenants, who would be included within the remit of the Tenant Services Authority. This would achieve domain-wide regulation, as proposed by Professor Martin Cave, whom the Government asked to look into the regulation of social housing. He suggested a single regulator for the full domain. The Government subsequently asked Professor Ian Coles, another academic, to look at the details. His group, representing the different interests—consumers, providers, local government and central government—also concluded that a single regulator was required. There were no disagreements there. Indeed, the Government themselves are behind the idea that there should be one regulator for all social housing tenants. The only question that remains is when this regulator’s work should cover all these tenants and how long it should remain just for tenants of housing associations. I have asked the different interest groups arguing for domain-wide regulation whether we need it now or whether it would be preferable to wait until we get the new legislation, which the Government are promising later, probably within the next two years. I also asked them whether it would be worth waiting until we have the White Paper on this, which is coming out in the very near future, before us or whether I should press forward with this amendment now. The National Consumer Council and the Tenant Participation Advisory Service think that I should press forward with the amendment, because otherwise there will be no guarantees that this will ever come to pass. I have asked the provider groups about it. You might think that providers asking for a new set of regulations to apply to them would be turkeys voting for Christmas but, no, they are very much in favour of me pressing forward with this amendment. They include the chartered institute, the National Housing Federation, the National Federation of ALMOs—arm’s-length management organisations—and, most important, local authorities represented by the Local Government Association. They are adamant and insistent that I should bring the amendment to your Lordships’ House, because it is important to get on with this now. I am pleased that within the House I have the support of the opposition Benches and support from the Back Benches of the government party, including from the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, who has spoken in favour of the amendment. A body of opinion believes that this Bill is the right legislation for social housing and that this is the moment that we should go for a domain-wide regulator. Another ingredient is that if we do not, as a certainty, extend the regulation to cover all social housing tenants, the new organisation that the Government are setting up, the Tenant Services Authority, will not know whether, in terms of its staffing, the membership of its board and its governance, it will ever actually be the regulator for all social housing tenants or whether it should confine itself—and continue to confine itself, whether it likes it or not—to housing associations. There will be difficulties if we give the authority an ambivalent task and say that we hope that future legislation will extend its role to cover all council tenants and tenants of ALMOs, but we cannot be absolutely sure how its board will be constituted and how, as a new agency, its staffing will be planned. Will it cover 2 million or 4 million tenants? We can hope for the best or we can have a bird in the hand through the legislative process now by ensuring that the regulations that will follow, which will require consideration, consultation and proper formulation, will take care of the detail later. I am not asking for anything other than what all of us in this House and outside believe is exactly what is required. All that I am asking for is that we give the Secretary of State an enabling power to get on with this now and not wait for legislation that may or may not come down the line in a year or two. I beg to move.