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

Let me take this opportunity to update hon. Members on the smooth transition from the existing bodies to the new arrangements. I have to pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich, who has been articulate in  expressing concerns that the new Homes and Communities Agency should hit the ground running to help achieve the ambitious target of 3 million new homes by 2020. It is pertinent and relevant to update the Committee on where we are with regard to that.

I should like to mention the work that is currently being carried out by the agency’s project board, which will be chaired by Sir Bob Kerslake. The work to date has identified three key work strands that will need to be delivered if the agency is to be established and become operational by April 2009. The first is organisational design and development; the second is the investment plan and finance; and the third is interventions, policy and stakeholders.

I am happy to provide Committee members with copies of a letter that Sir Bob Kerslake has sent to English Partnerships and Housing Corporation staff in the last few days, but I thought that it would reassure them if I cited it. Sir Bob states:

“I am personally delighted to have had confirmation of such an important transfer of delivery functions from CLG, including major new initiatives such as the delivery of the growth areas. This will underline the importance of the HCA as local government’s best delivery partner”—

he uses an important phrase there—

“able to bring together all of the strands of housing and regeneration delivery in powerful packages in support of local authority plans.”

I stressed that myself. With specific reference to the clause, Sir Bob says:

“As I mentioned in my last letter, I am creating a dedicated set up team to oversee the creation of the new Agency. This will be led by Trevor Beattie, currently Corporate Strategy Director of English Partnerships, who will be responsible for a small team of about a dozen headed up by Margaret Allen, currently the Housing Corporation’s Field Director Central, and Ros Dunn, a senior member of CLG who was formerly Director of Strategy for the Thames Gateway.”

I am more than happy to provide Committee members with a copy of Sir Bob’s letter. I hope that it reassures them that work is ongoing and that Sir Bob has hit the ground running in ensuring that the agency starts delivering as soon as possible.

Grant Shapps (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Welwyn Hatfield, Conservative)

I am pleased to hear about the interim arrangements and the progress. I represent two new towns, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield. One of them, Hatfield, has had a new town centre promised for a very long time. It has proved to be a difficult and much-delayed project, the building of which should finally get under way in 2009, or perhaps at the end of 2008. The project falls under the auspices of a partnership between the council and English Partnerships, which will take over from the Commission for the New Towns.

I think that when people learn about the Homes and Communities Agency, they will seek the kind of reassurance that the Minister has been providing, because the last thing they want in a project with a time scale that runs to 2011 or 2012 is to feel that there could be another six months’ or year’s delay while the HCA gets up to speed. I am grateful for the Minister’s comments. They will be important for Hatfield and many other projects around the country.

George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)

I may not have accurately caught what the Minister said. On the interim arrangements, the clause states:

“The Secretary of State may...require the Urban Regeneration Agency and the Commission for the New Towns to provide staff, premises...on a temporary basis”,

but not the Housing Corporation. Is there any reason why it is left out of the requirement?

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

On the point that the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield made about Hatfield town centre, I mentioned earlier the three broad work strands: organisational design and development, investment plan and finance, and intervention policy and stakeholders. Under those three work strands, there are 20 further discrete ones that are intended to ensure that the establishment of the agency does not disrupt the continuing work of the Housing Corporation or English Partnerships, or the delivery functions of the Department for Communities and Local Government. Therefore, in respect of the particular example that the hon. Gentleman, as a good constituency MP, refers to—obviously, it would be better if there were a Labour gain—I hope that I have reassured him that we are moving forward and that there will be as little disruption to current plans as possible.

Nick Raynsford (Greenwich & Woolwich, Labour)

On that very point, I do not know whether inspiration has reached my hon. Friend the Minister, but it strikes me that there is an interesting curiosity in the Bill, in that we have already dealt with clauses 51 and 52, which abolish respectively the Urban Regeneration Agency and the Commission for the New Towns, but we have not yet reached clause 66, which provides for the dissolution of the Housing Corporation. It occurred to me that there may be some logic in making interim arrangements for those bodies that have already been abolished but not yet making such arrangements for the one that is due to be abolished in the next hour or so, if we proceed expeditiously.

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

I shall address the two points, which are the same. The Committee will be thrilled to hear that I have tabled new clause 35, which addresses the issue. It states:

“The Secretary of State may by notice require the Housing Corporation to provide staff, premises, facilities or other assistance to—

(a) the regulator, or

(b) the HCA.”

George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)

Does that not show the risk of providing a list in a Bill?

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

A fair point.

Roger Gale (North Thanet, Conservative)

In case anyone is worried, we shall reach clause 58 with schedule 7 some time on or before 31 January. [ Interruption. ] You have to be sharp on your feet, Mr. Shapps. You will learn.