Building Regulations (Review) Bill [HL]

Lord Harrison Excerpts

Friday 22nd October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harrison]

My Lords, this has been an excellent and wide-ranging debate, and I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Tope, for bringing his experience of local authorities and London to the table. I am pleased to have heard once again the noble Lord, Lord Best, who asked pertinent questions and who was prepared to avail us of the information from the housing association that he is associated with, as well as the consumers who are affected by any changes that might be made.

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord McKenzie of Luton, who brings with him his own expertise, having wrestled with this in the past. Clearly the mantle has been passed well to the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, as her contribution shows.

I noted that the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, went five minutes over time in making his contribution, which would have given Manchester United ample opportunity to score more goals. However, it is relevant to point out that in the past, as many of us will remember, incidents such as the dreadful fire in the Bradford football stadium led to legislation and work with the industry to ensure that spectators were not incinerated in future. That is why it is important that again we wrestle with these issues.

I will not give a deep analysis of the Minister’s reply. I will say, though, that he talked about an absence of new evidence, and we are happy to bring that new evidence forward. I congratulate him on, and I am grateful for, the proper sense of inquiry that he has shown today. He is cautious, but we will attempt to persuade him, to ensure that we can achieve the aims of the Bill and to put a time limit on action, because we think that these things are urgent.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.