Clause 38
Housing and Regeneration Bill
9:45 am
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that the amendment would not really add anything to the effect of the clause. I draw his attention to subsection (4), which states:
“The HCA must, in particular, consult such bodies appearing to it to represent the interests of registered providers of social housing as it considers appropriate.”
The amendment would leave out “as it considers appropriate”, and would thus apparently require the agency to consult all bodies representative of registered providers of social housing, rather than just those the agency considered appropriate, which would, I suggest, remove the agency’s discretion as to whom it may consult.
I know that the hon. Gentleman says that the amendment would avoid vagueness, but it would mean that the agency did not have discretion, which would increase the risk of the agency’s decisions being successfully challenged due to a failure to consult every single representative body, including those unaffected by particular determinations. That could be unwieldy and unnecessarily bureaucratic. I am sure that is not what the hon. Gentleman intended, although I understand the sentiment behind the amendment. To avoid that vagueness and ensure that the agency has a degree of discretion, I hope that he will withdraw the amendment.