Clause 1
Housing Corporation (Delegation) etc. Bill
4:30 pm
Michael Gove (Shadow Minister (Housing), Communities and Local Government; Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to return briefly to this issue, which is of great importance. I stress that it was first raised in the House by the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington. He made a good point, which I am more than happy to endorse. The hon. Gentleman pointed out that the Housing Corporation was presumed to have a power, but in fact lacked it. We are now legislating to give it a power that everyone assumed that it had. Fair enough, we all say. But it occurred to the hon. Gentleman that there might be other NDPBs that everyone assumed had this power but which, in effect, were merrily making decisions without the required appropriate legislative cover.
The Minister said that the majority of NDPBs that were set up when such powers were not granted had either been wound up or modernised, and we are satisfied that the majority of cases have been reviewed. However, majority is not the same as totality. The implication of her words is that there may be some NDPBs that everyone believes should have the right to delegate powers to committees or officers, but that are, in fact, operating in a legal black hole. We want to ensure that a proper audit of every NDPB is undertaken in order to ensure that in a few weeks or months or in a year’s time we do not need another piece of primary legislation to tidy up.