Legislative Reform (Regulator of Social Housing) (England) Order 2018

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2018 Lords Chamber

Today, we are back to the future, with the Homes and Communities Agency dividing into, on the one hand, Homes England—the investment side—helping to get more of the 300,000 new homes built, and, on the other hand, the new Regulator of Social Housing. This will avoid the potential problem of conflicting objectives between the funder, when it has invested in a housing association and wants to get the maximum return, and the regulator, when it may need to discipline, penalise or even close down that same housing association. The new arrangements will remove these tensions. They will allow Homes England to concentrate on the big job of supporting the provision of more, and more affordable, new homes. With a Green Paper on social housing due for publication later this year, they pave the way for the regulatory function to be refined and enhanced. It is surely time for history to repeat itself: the separation of functions, once again, must be right. I support the order.

[Lord Shipley (LD)]

My Lords, I remind the House that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I thank the Minister for his explanation and the noble Lord, Lord Best, for reminding us of the history of this matter. We support the order to create a stand-alone regulatory authority. It seems a logical and necessary step, given the changed nature of the Homes and Communities Agency, now Homes England, and the potential conflict of interest that could arise if a housing association was in financial difficulty. It should not be a secured creditor of organisations that it regulates, and the regulatory framework should be robust and seen to be robust by third parties and private investors. There is strong public support for the proposals and, as a consequence, these proposals should command our support, too.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I remind the House of my registered interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. The order before the House is one I support. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Best, for reminding us of the history of this and of the bonfire of the quangos—I remember the debates we had in the House about that. Clearly, the phoenix has now risen from the fire and we are back where we started. I am very happy with that and with the explanation that the noble Lord has given us. I am happy to support the order.