Housing and Regeneration Bill
2:15 pm
Lord Best: I think one has to be a bit careful with using the regulator for that purpose. It is one thing to be sure that you are protecting the existing and future tenants and that their interests are being well served; it is another to use the regulator as a tool of public policy because there is something else on your agenda. “Antisocial behaviour? Let’s get these people, for free, to do a lot of the work that might have been done by other agencies.” On worklessness, housing associations, at least the good ones—the RSLs vary on a spectrum of nought to 100, even though there is a lot of regulation and you would have thought that they would all be standard by now—are getting really good at tackling worklessness issues. I am so impressed. The Housing Corporation has a gold award scheme, and for the third year I am a judge. This year a prize goes to the one that is doing most to get people into jobs on the estates and in the area where they are working. Some are doing really fantastic things. However, to get the regulator to step in and insist that such policies be carried out would be totally counter-productive. Hackles will rise.
There are boards of housing associations; they are responsible people—15,000 people are on the boards of housing associations. By all means give them incentives and bright ideas and use the good will that is there, but we ought to back off from using regulation. Some modest amendments will probably be necessary.