Clause 42
Housing and Regeneration Bill
10:00 am

Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)

This is a supplementary point about the Academy for Sustainable Communities, the body that is likely to become Cinderella to the new agency unless we draw attention to it. All our discussions have been about the merging of the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships, the two big components of the new body, but the third component is the academy, which has an important role in advice, education and training—the subjects of the clause. I should be grateful if my hon. Friend the Minister could indicate the areas where the academy, in its new role as part of the agency, will address the challenges that we face, not least of appropriate skills for the achievement of the Government’s ambitious housing and regeneration targets.

Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)

Over recent years, we have seen the importance of involving communities, particularly disadvantaged communities, on many of the larger estates. I am thinking of places such as Castle Vale in Birmingham, where major schemes have involved tenants and communities. Does the Minister envisage that an element of the measure could be to help train community members to be advocates for their communities and put forward what people want at grass roots, so that when there are development schemes, one is better able to drill down, there is no top-down process and the HCA does its best to involve local communities and get community members to say what their communities want in the way of redevelopment and sustainability?

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)

I am grateful to the Committee for bringing the issue to wider attention. My right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich is right: although the focus has been on the establishment of the HCA due to the merger of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation, we should not forget the vital role of the Academy for Sustainable Communities in ensuring that we have real community engagement. I am excited by what the academy does, and there is a real opportunity in the Bill to expand its work.

To touch on what my right hon. Friend said about clause 41, the academy focuses on broader generic skills, such as project management, vision, communication,  partnership working and community engagement, and following my response to him on that earlier clause, I anticipate that the academy will expand its role. The academy has identified three broad areas and three major audiences on which its work programmes will focus when it becomes part of the agency. The three major audiences include young people, because it will need to capture their interest, raise their awareness of sustainable community issues and encourage them to go into sustainable community careers. Having spoken to stakeholders, I know that there is a potential skills shortage, which may affect the number of people going into sustainable community careers, such as architecture and landscaping. I know, too, that my right hon. Friend is working hard on the issue.

We must work to encourage people to have a stake in their communities and to realise that quality of life and the built environment are important. People can become productively and positively involved in their communities by taking up careers as planning surveyors, architects or landscapers. I am really excited by that work and I would like to drive it forward, certainly at ministerial level.

Margaret Moran (Luton South, Labour)

Does my hon. Friend envisage the expansion of some of the ideas that he has outlined? For example, I have been working closely with Ashram housing association in Birmingham, which has worked with its south Asian women tenants to ensure that they gain qualifications in design and architecture and can help to design their own homes. Such schemes give people skills and potential for employment, while dealing with issues such as sustainable communities and regeneration. I hope that the HCA will take a much more positive role in expanding such projects.

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)

I certainly hope so, too. I am pleased that my hon. Friend mentioned Ashram, because its representatives have been to see me. We talked about skilling specific diverse communities and about ensuring that in areas where black and minority ethnic communities, women and younger people are not involved in the careers that I mentioned they step up to the plate to ensure that they become involved. That is vital, so I am really encouraged and excited by what is going on and I want to see those things go forward. The academy is really good and will make still more progress when it is in the agency.

Nick Hurd (Whip, Whips; Ruislip - Northwood, Conservative)

Of course, the Bill is not the only opportunity for the Academy for Sustainable Communities to expand now that the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 is on the statute book. As the promoter of the private Member’s Bill that led to the Act, I am obviously delighted to support the academy’s expansion. May I press the Minister a little further, however, on what expansion means in this context? How much more financial assistance will the Government put into that expansion?

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)

That will be an operational decision for the agency’s chief executive and senior management. The clear expectation is that the agency will help people to realise what they can do to promote sustainable communities. In that respect, I pay tribute to what the hon. Gentleman did in the 2007 Act. However, if the agency is really to step up to the plate to ensure that  communities are engaged and that potential barriers to housing growth and community infrastructure are identified, addressed and resolved, the academy will need to play a bigger role. That is what I mean by expansion.

I have mentioned young people and potential skills shortages, but let me also mention professionals because the professional bodies have a role to play. The academy has identified the need to target professionals and deliver a co-ordinated programme of integrated learning and skills training to those working in sustainable communities. That will improve their skills and awareness and ensure that future generations are attracted to the relevant professions and that those working in them are excited by them and want to move forward still further. Again, this is a real opportunity, and I am really excited by it.

The third strand of the work programme identified by the academy relates directly to the point made by the hon. Member for Poole about community leaders. The academy wants to raise awareness and understanding of sustainable community issues among community leaders and to support the building of the capacity and capability to deliver on those issues.

From what I have heard, the whole Committee is really excited, as I am, about the Academy for Sustainable Communities. As John F. Kennedy said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”,

and the academy will be doing that on a sustainable community level. It is really exciting that people can make an impact in their area by using architects, landscapers and planning surveyors to raise standards and quality of life, and that planning and design, which we mentioned on earlier clauses, can play a central role. Through the agency, the academy will be able to ensure that that happens. I have been encouraged by our debate, as I hope other hon. Members have been, and I hope that they will be attracted to stuff that is going on in their constituencies and will ensure that the agency plays a part across the country.