Social Housing Sector

Lord Stoneham of Droxford Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

As my noble friend Lady Williams made clear on Monday night, this area is under active consideration within the timetable of the Bill.

[Lord Stoneham of Droxford (LD)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of Housing & Care 21, one of the housing associations referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Best. Can I ask the Minister whether he really understands the urgency of this issue? He talks about 2018, but the housing associations involved will have to start telling people in the next few weeks what they can expect under the current government policies. The review has to be quick. How quickly can the Minister respond in order to help housing associations that are currently delaying their decisions?

[Lord Freud]

We are aiming to develop our policy on the back of the information that we get in the spring, and we will be working with the whole sector to develop policy. As for the other issue that the sector is concerned about, which I discussed in the last question, that is within the timetable of the Bill.