Housing and Regeneration Bill
10:30 am
Roger Gale (North Thanet, Conservative)
Good morning. Before we begin, there are various preliminary announcements to make. First, while I am in the Chair, if hon. Members wish to remove their jackets for their comfort they may do so. It is up to Mr. Benton whether he extends the same courtesy. Will all hon. Members please ensure that their mobile phones, pagers and all electronic devices are switched off? For the purposes of this Committee, laptops are not allowed to be used.
There is a money resolution in connection with the Bill and I am advised that copies are available in the room. Adequate notice should be given for amendments, because, as a general rule, Mr. Benton and I will not call starred amendments.
The process of taking evidence in public that we are shortly to embark on is relatively new, so it may be helpful to hon. Members, as it has been to me, to be advised as to the procedure. The Committee will first consider the programme motion on the amendment paper. That process will take up to half an hour. We shall proceed to a motion to report written evidence, followed by a motion to permit the Committee to deliberate in private in advance of the oral evidence sessions. I would like to think that we could take those latter two motions formally.
Assuming that the second of the motions has been agreed to, the Committee will move into private session for discussion prior to the evidence taking. Once the Committee has deliberated, the witnesses and members of the public will be invited into the room and the oral evidence session will commence.
To concentrate minds, the witnesses have been invited to attend at 11 o’clock. That means that you have half an hour, but if you choose not to take it, it will help the witnesses. If the Committee agrees to the programme motion, it will hear all evidence today and on Thursday, moving on to the more familiar proceedings of clause-by-clause scrutiny as a Public Bill Committee in sittings commencing in the new year.
You will notice that the first evidence session, when we come to it, will be with the Local Government Association and London Councils. That session must terminate at 11.45 am under the terms of the programme motion, if you agree to it; so the witnesses do not have very long. Regrettable and discourteous though it may seem to some people, at 11.45 am the Chair must terminate the evidence session. You should be aware of that when we come to take the evidence.
Without further ado, I call upon the Minister to move the programme motion.