Lord Kerslake: (Maiden Speech) My Lords, I want to touch on three issues in my speech today: local government, devolution and housing. But let me first say how delighted I am to have become a Member of this House. It seems a long journey from the small village primary school in Somerset, where my father was the head teacher. He left school without qualifications and lied about his age in order to join the...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interest as president-elect of the Local Government Association. My other interests are as recorded in the register. First can I say how much I welcome the fact that we are having this debate and the significant transport investment that is planned? Good connectivity between London and the north, and between the cities in the north, is critical to realising the...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of Peabody, chair of the recently formed London Housing Commission and president-elect of the Local Government Association, to follow the noble Lord, Lord Best. The defining task for this Government on housing is how they can substantially increase the level of supply and, crucially, hold that high level of supply for a sustained period of time. This...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Local Government Association. Noble Lords will know from my maiden speech my passionate commitment to devolution and support for this Bill. It is because I support devolution that I think we should support Amendments 1 and 2 today. An annual report and a devolution statement seem to me to be entirely practical and sensible additions that...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interests as chair of Peabody and president of the Local Government Association. I speak in favour of this amendment in light of the Government’s stated intention to extend the right-to-buy policy to housing associations. I entirely support the Government’s aim to extend home ownership but have serious concerns about this proposed way of doing so. Currently, tenants...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interests as chair of Peabody and president of the Local Government Association. My amendment is very similar to the other two amendments in this group, and I will not repeat what I think was a very compelling argument made by my noble friend Lord Best. What I would like to do this evening is focus on three key reasons why I think that the Government should reconsider...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Local Government Association. My other interests are listed in the register. I suspect that I have been subject to as much personal challenge from the trade unions in my different roles as almost anyone in this Chamber. In Sheffield, I as chief executive had to take forward some very tough budget decisions, including major spending...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I rise to move Amendment 104C. In doing so, I declare my interest as chair of Peabody and president of the Local Government Association. I will also speak to the other amendments in this group that have been tabled in my name, so I hope that noble Lords will bear with me if this takes a little time. I also support the amendments in this group tabled by other noble Lords. These...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for her comprehensive response. I also thank my noble friend Lord Best, the noble Lords, Lord Beecham, Lord Horam and Lord Scriven, the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, and the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, for their helpful and supportive comments on the issues I raised in these...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I support this amendment. I will keep my comments short because my noble friend Lord Best covered very well the key issues. I shall make a small number of points. First, this housing supports people who are most at risk and most in need; that is, domestic abuse refuges, homeless hostels and shelters for frail, older people. Secondly, some housing associations have made a very...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendments 110A and 110B. I am conscious that we are reaching the end of a long process, so I shall keep my remarks short. These amendments go to a specific issue that needs addressing. They focus on giving flexibility and accepting social rent reductions for two types of new supplier: affordable rent suppliers and social tenancies. That does not address the...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I spoke at length on this Bill at Second Reading so I will keep my remarks today short. Many noble Lords were kind enough to give me feedback about my speech, and I have to say that it is easy to make a good speech when you feel passionately about the issues involved. For me, this is absolutely an issue of the utmost constitutional seriousness that should be of concern to those who...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness on an excellent maiden speech. It is a pleasure to follow such a distinguished servant—I use that word advisedly—of local government. I first met Dorothy, the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, when she took me round—irony of ironies—a social housing scheme connected to Watford Football Club, the Hornets. Her passion, warmth and commitment...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of Peabody and president of the Local Government Association. I support Amendment 50 and wish to speak specifically to Amendments 53, 61 and 63. I will keep my comments brief as I am conscious of the hour. I add my welcome to the movement and the moratorium referred to by other noble Lords. This is a demonstration of the Government listening and...
Lord Kerslake: The proposal with regard to the exemption and flexibility for the regulator in those difficult circumstances is entirely welcome. Although it does not go as far as I sought, it is a very helpful move indeed, so I thank the Minister.
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I rise to move Amendment 1 and indicate my support for the other amendments in this grouping. The central tenet of all the amendments, tabled and supported by Members of all parties and none, is the same: namely, that if we are to introduce thresholds on trade union ballots before industrial action is taken, we should seek to enable the widest range of methods for members to place...
Lord Kerslake: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her response, in particular her undertaking to reflect further on these issues. There were a large number of contributions—I counted a total of 17; I may have missed some—for which I am very grateful to the House. Recognising the length of the debate, and the fact that there are urgent debates to follow, I will not go through every one of those...
Lord Kerslake: The noble Lord is absolutely right that cybersecurity is critical. Indeed, I was going to come on to that. It is critical across every aspect of digital technology and use of digital systems. In fact, many security systems in this country are highly dependent on tackling cybersecurity issues. There is no doubt that we need to deal with it. I venture to suggest that, in comparison with those...
Lord Kerslake: The noble Lord, Lord Balfe, makes a very powerful point. I entirely agree that the aim here is to be able to say, by the point at which we introduce these thresholds, that we have given the widest range of choices. That is where we are trying to get to. If there are alternative ways of doing it, I am very open to that conversation. That is why I am willing to withdraw the amendment at this...
Lord Kerslake: I would like to raise a question that is relevant to this debate. In doing so, I declare my interest as chair of Peabody. Peabody is a housing association that the Minister will know was classified, along with other housing associations, as a public body. The Government have rightly recognised that that was inappropriate and wrong, and are taking steps to deregulate for housing associations...
