Schedule 1
Housing and Regeneration Bill
9:15 am
George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)
I, too, welcome your benign chairmanship, Mr. Benton, as somebody who will be with our Committee proceedings for the next few weeks.
The schedule gets to the nuts and bolts of the HCA, and I shall press the Minister on one or two issues, particularly one that I raised in oral evidence. The last paragraph of the schedule states:
“The Secretary of State...may—
(a) appoint the first chief executive”.
I asked the Minister for Housing about that in oral evidence, and she said:
“We intend to appoint the shadow chief executive as soon as possible”.——[Official Report, Housing and Regeneration Public Bill Committee, 13 December 2007; c. 142, Q234.]
That was four weeks ago, so I wonder whether the Minister can update us on the appointment of the chief executive.
The schedule also deals with the members of the board, and the Minister for Housing also said last year that she hoped to have a shadow board up and running “from April next year.” I take it that means that in April this year there will be a board. It would be helpful if the Minister were to outline the progress that is being made with the board’s appointment.
The schedule also deals in paragraph (4) with staff. Again, it would be helpful if the Minister were to outline whether the existing staff of the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships will be transferred to the HCA, or whether the process that was used during the reorganisation of the health service will be adopted, whereby people in effect have to bid for their own jobs. Many people who work in those organisations hope to become HCA staff, and it would be helpful if the Minister were to outline their position during the transition period.
The schedule also deals with property, and it would be helpful if the Minister could say whether the Government propose to do what they have done with other departmental bodies or quangos, and re-locate them outside London, or whether they intend the body to stay in London. As he knows, the Housing Corporation is based on Tottenham Court road. Does he intend to base the HCA in London, or does he have other ambitions for it?
Again, this may be getting slightly ahead of the game, but does the Minister envisage a regional structure, replicating the organisation of the Housing Corporation? I take it that he wants the staff all in one place—that he wants to co-locate the relevant people from English Partnerships with the relevant people from the Housing Corporation, rather than have them continue to work in separate buildings. It would be helpful if the Minister were to share some details and colour in the schedule’s black and white prose, so that we have an insight into the way in which the organisation will start.