Clause 8 - Home condition reports
Homes Bill
12:45 pm
Mr Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham, Conservative)
Presumably those 9,000 plus individuals are not idly twiddling their thumbs waiting for the Bill to be passed; they have their time cut out doing all sorts of other work, including surveys and engineering or structural surveys on commercial property, which has nothing to do with the Bill. It is inevitable that there will be a shortfall of individuals readily available to fill a large gap. Eighty per cent. of 1.5 million homes represents a large figure. The RCIS and all the other bodies that are professionally involved in the issue say that they will have to recruit many additional people, which is likely to cause problems.
The Minister said that the Government want to ensure that the standards of the new scheme are maintained—the trouble is that we do not know what those standards are to be. We do not know the details of the standards that will be required in the home condition reports. As is so often the case, we are all flailing around in the dark trusting in a promise—not, I hope, a whim—regarding the detailed provisions that the Government might implement if the scheme gets off the ground within its two-year take-off slot. I can see that we will not get any further. We must rely on the assurances of the Minister—assurances that are based on very little detail. Our probing amendments have exposed the continued gaps in the legislation. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.