Home Energy Conservation Bill
9:45 am
Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk, Conservative)
It is a great pleasure to support the Bill. I join my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Bedfordshire and the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson) in congratulating you on your Chairmanship, Mr. Benton. I look forward to the Committee's proceedings.
It seems essential, and both my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Nottingham, South have made the point well, that the Bill should be discussed in detail. I am strongly in favour of private Members' Bills. I am a new Member, and Second Reading was my first opportunity to speak on a private Member's Bill. I have always believed that parliamentary business is best conducted, if possible, by consensus. One of the best ways to get round the problem of politicians being held in such low esteem is for Members from all parties to come together on legislation on which they can agree, and push it forward. It was a great example of that when the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown introduced this Bill and worked hard to secure an all-party consensus.
I was impressed that certain of my hon. Friends said that, as landlords, they had nothing to fear from the provisions. Two constituents, however, have contacted me to say that they have concerns about the Bill. They are coming to my surgery tomorrow. I would like to hear their concerns and then be able to reflect them in the Committee, for which purpose I would appreciate the chance of further sittings.
I was interested in what the hon. Member for Nottingham, South said about his stepdaughter. I understand that targets must be clear, and I am rather puzzled by the Minister's actions in tabling certain of the amendments. I know that he favours targets. While listening to the speeches of other Members, I have been wondering how much to quote of the various pronouncements that the Minister has made on the subject of targets. I could flog the subject of how keen the Minister is on targets for hours, but I shall not bother to do so, because I hope that, using the immense wisdom at his disposal, he will reconsider the issue.
The fact of the matter is that targets help. When Michael Heseltine replaced Chris Patten, who went on to become Governor of Hong Kong, as Secretary of State for the Environment in 1992, he started issuing
decrees in his new Department stating that there should be targets and dates by which it should have accomplished things. I remember reading a long article about that in The Independent, which said that civil servants were warning him, ''Minister, don't you realise? If you come out with all these public declarations that you will do something by such and such a date, you will be exposed, because you might not actually achieve them.'' Michael Heseltine apparently responded by saying, ''Well, you'd better make sure that we do, then, hadn't you?'' There is nothing like giving a public commitment to achieve something for focusing the mind and ensuring that it is actually achieved.
I shall quote from a speech made on Second Reading:
''I have no doubt that making the achievement of the targets mandatory will focus minds and will assist the local authority officers responsible for achieving the targets in negotiating for resources and delivering what they are required to deliver.''—[Official Report, 30 November 2001; Vol. 375, c. 1259.]
As Sting said, if one cannot recycle one's own songs, it's a pretty poor show. That quotation was taken from my speech. I said that because it was plain to me from discussions that I had had and from letters that I had received from local authorities—I believe that many hon. Members received similar letters—that the authorities wanted mandatory targets to enable their officers to do their job. South Norfolk district council wrote to me asking me to support the Bill, as did many of my constituents. The mandatory targets are what will make the difference. We need time to discuss the issue in depth in Committee.
I am astonished by the Government amendments' apparent potential to remove the obligations from registered social landlords. I share the concerns that have been expressed about that. The poorest and most vulnerable people in society will be affected.
On clause 8, which was also mentioned on Second Reading, I believe that registered social landlords should not be exempt from the need to register. I would have thought that if no one, including landlords, need fear the Bill, then registered social landlords need not fear it either. I hope that we will have time to discuss that issue. The hon. Member for North Thanet (Mr. Gale) spoke powerfully on the subject of social landlords, pointing out that although many of them are good, others are not. There is a strong case for suggesting that the Bill's provisions should apply to them as well.
In conclusion, I hope that I have added force to the arguments already expressed that we need time to discuss the Bill in Committee in order to ensure that it becomes law. The hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, who has done such good work so far, should be allowed to steer his Bill through the House. I suggest to the Minister that he consider taking his paws off the hon. Gentleman's good work.