Results 1-20 of 6,963 for speaker:Nick Raynsford

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 12 — Application of construction contracts legislation (13 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Raynsford: First, may I draw attention to my interests as declared in the Register of Members' Interests? The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which was the basis of the provisions being amended by part 8 of the Bill, was an important measure that addressed real concerns within the construction industry about the litigious characteristics of the industry, the tendency for...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 12 — Application of construction contracts legislation (13 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Raynsford: There are of course a number of different aspects to the issue of cash flow and the hon. Gentleman rightly identifies one of them as the availability of finance from the banks, which remains a difficulty. There is also the problem of cash flow resulting from payment by a contractor to a subcontractor down the supply chain. That exercises a lot of concern on the part of smaller and specialist...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: The hon. Gentleman seems surprised that a scheme that is designed to help people through a period when mortgage finance is very difficult obtain should not have led people immediately into home ownership. Is not the whole purpose of the scheme precisely to enable people to rent now and buy at some future date when circumstances are easier?

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I have been waiting patiently to hear the hon. Gentleman's observations on the Homes and Communities Agency. I heard him say "finally", and assumed that he was moving towards his conclusion, but I hope that he will address his party's policy on the agency and its future.

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: Does the hon. Lady accept that had the Government not intervened in the way in which they have done to try to reduce the incidence of repossessions and to restore some confidence to the mortgage market, it might well be that the kind of figures that she is talking about will already have happened, and we would be talking not about scare stories but about human casualties? If that is the case,...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: That is not true.

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I draw attention to the interest declared in the Register of Members' Interests. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) and her Committee on an admirably thorough, thoughtful and constructive report on a complex subject. I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister on his new appointment. He comes into an important post at a challenging time,...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that, because it is a classic illustration of the then Government's response being fragmented and not entirely effective. After spending a long time wondering how to deal with the problem, they devised something known as the housing market package, which was additional funding for the Housing Corporation to enable housing associations to go out...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I accept that entirely. Interest rates are down, but the hon. Lady will recall that the CML's previous forecast was issued after interest rates reached the current level, so we are dealing with a static position. Its latest revision downwards is against a background of a similar interest rate position as that which it took into account when making its previous forecast.

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I cannot give a detailed response, but I will look at the figures and will happily respond to the hon. Gentleman in writing. It is important that there has been a downward revision, because many people might have expected the figure to go in the opposite direction. I certainly recall that in those difficult days of the early 1990s the repossession figures escalated upwards, and the trend was...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: The hon. Lady will see from Hansard that my remarks showed no complacency whatever. They indicated concern about the problem, but noted that the latest CML forecast showed a slightly less worrying pattern than previously expected. I believe that that is the result of Government intervention, as well as the impact of relatively favourable interest rates. I accept entirely that that may not...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: This is an interesting story, and it is not a new one. That scheme, which enabled people to acquire a property of their choice on the open market, followed in a long line of similar schemes, of which perhaps the most famous historically was known as DIYSO—do it yourself shared ownership. That followed a similar model. The individual identified a property that they wanted to buy and then...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: As my hon. Friend will recall, I stressed the importance of increasing the output of social rented housing and other affordable housing. My comments are about the importance of ensuring that we do not lurch back into the pattern of mono-tenure estates. There are some pretty nasty examples of those—I think of the Ferrier estate in my own constituency that is currently being demolished....

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: The hon. Lady makes a good point. Diversity does not stop at outright ownership, shared ownership and social rented housing. Of course we want a wider mix of options. Some of the good options now being looked at include the "rent now, buy later" scheme, which would help people who are not currently able to raise mortgage finance, but who probably will be able to afford to buy in due course...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: Of course. That is the obverse side of the coin and is a consequence of what I believe was a terrible mistake made during the last century—that of segregating households between tenure. The obverse of the sink estate, which is stigmatised because it is seen as solely housing poor people in unsatisfactory accommodation, is the "exclusive" gated community of exclusively wealthy people who...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Nick Raynsford: Like many of us, I am sure that my hon. Friend has noted the Council of Mortgage Lenders' downward revision of the number of anticipated repossessions from, I think, 75,000, which it was forecasting earlier this year, to the latest figure of 60,000. She gave her surmise about the impact of the Government's measures and the fact that the protocol is leading to forbearance and the avoidance of...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 17 (18 Jun 2009)

Nick Raynsford: I shall be brief, but I shall disappoint the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden by saying that I hope that the Minister will not accept the new clause, which is misconceived and inappropriate. I shall not talk about the individual circumstances in the right hon. Gentleman’s constituency, and I have no reason to dispute his concern about them, but I note the tone of hostility to...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 17 (18 Jun 2009)

Nick Raynsford: If the right hon. Gentleman tables such an amendment on Report, I will consider it a lot more sympathetically, but I could not possibly support the new clause now because I regard it as inappropriate for the reasons I have explained.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 16 (18 Jun 2009)

Nick Raynsford: The hon. Gentleman has not addressed the crucial issue, which is the impact that the Standards Board may or may not have had on standards of conduct in local government. He will be aware that at the time it was established there was widespread concern about inappropriate behaviour. As an illustration—it is a good news story—I was judging the Local Government Chronicle awards for...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 8 (18 Jun 2009)

Nick Raynsford: The hon. Gentleman has devoted about 90 per cent. of his remarks to alleged central control, and only about 10 per cent. to performance. This debate is about performance assessment. Would he like to tell the Committee about the evidence of local government performance over the period of comprehensive performance assessment, and the comments of people such as Michael Frater, whom he quoted,...