Clause 25
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Portsmouth North, Labour)
I will try to sum up the various points that have been made.
The hon. Member for Peterborough said that these were probing amendments, but he went on to say that he intended to oppose the clause. I am saddened that the Conservative party does not support the creation of National Tenant Voice, a body that will act as an advocate for millions of tenants, not least by enabling a direct dialogue between tenants and Government, and between tenants and the new social housing regulator. The amendments would restrict activities to matters concerning only social housing tenants, rather than tenants of other residential property. I do not think that that is right.
The creation of National Tenant Voice is part of the wider reform of social housing regulation, and the new body’s initial focus should be tenants in social housing. However, I do not want the benefits of National Tenant Voice to be confined to social housing tenants alone, although they should be its core focus. Many of the issues that concern social housing tenants are of equal concern to many tenants in the private sector. National Tenant Voice will be an independent body. Once it is established, it will decide whether to seek, at some later date, to give a voice to tenants in the private sector, particularly the most vulnerable of those tenants. We want the legislation to be sufficiently flexible to allow such a decision to be made. However, the clause does not envisage that National Tenant Voice would be able to represent private sector tenants alone. Where private sector tenants are represented, the body must also represent social housing tenants.
I shall respond to some of the specific questions that were asked, such as why the clause did not form part of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. That was because the original intention was for the National Consumer Council to house National Tenant Voice. However, on reflection, it was decided that that would be too great a burden to place on the new body, and it was recommended that we should have a stand-alone body. This legislation is coming forward because we cannot set up the body until we have the power to fund it.