Clause 41
Housing and Regeneration Bill
10:00 am
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
My right hon. Friend raises an interesting point. Given that there needs to be a step change in what the agency does, in comparison with its predecessor organisations, I anticipate that it will work in new fields, such as project management. I understand that English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation already have such roles, but I imagine that there will be new and innovative research on project management and perhaps communication.
We have talked about how the agency will have to have a key role—a primary role, following my response to my right hon. Friend—in facilitating, enabling, partnership working and community engagement. I do not want to box the agency in on what it does, but I imagine that as a resource hub and repository of best practice, it will help people step up to the plate and local communities to become involved in planning permission. It will also help to ensure that infrastructure projects are understood and communicated as much as possible.
In our deliberations on clause 27 my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, South mentioned concerns that work at the Housing Corporation’s centre for research and market intelligence might be restricted if the agency were to undertake it using the powers in clause 41. The HCA would be able to take on the work of the CRMI under that clause and the following one, and would not be restricted in any way by the wording of clause 41. I hope that addresses my hon. Friend’s concerns, and that I have answered my right hon. Friend’s points about how the agency will provide research.