House of Commons - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions

Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Second Report

1 The Committee's Work during 2003

Introduction

1. This has been the ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee's first full year since its establishment in July 2002. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is responsible for a wide range of Government policy. The Committee has sought during the year to cover as much of the Department's remit as possible. The first decision of the Committee when it was established in July 2002 was to establish its Urban Affairs Sub-committee. We have made full use of the Sub-committee during the year.

2. We have had a very busy year. We have undertaken 7 inquiries during 2003 which have led to published reports: in addition, we published three reports relying on evidence taken in 2002, together with our Annual Report 2002. We also published an interim report during our inquiry into the Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance, in order to respond to issues in the Licensing Bill. We have completed two further inquiries into The Fire Service and Coalfield Communities which will lead to reports early in 2004. We also held a 'one-off' evidence session with the Electoral Commission and the Boundary Committee for England. Our reports on Affordable Housing[1] and Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity,[2] were debated in Westminster Hall on 19 June and 16 October. The subjects we have covered are set out in Table 1 below. We would like to take the opportunity in this report to thank all those who have helped us in our work during 2003.

Table 1: Inquiries completed during 2003 set against Liaison Committee criteria[3]

Government policy proposals Examination of deficiencies Departmental actions Associated public bodies Major appointments Implementation of legislation Draft legislation Expenditure Public Service Agreements

The Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives v v v v

Local Government Finance: Formula Grant Distribution v v v

Departmental Annual Report and Accounts 2002 v v

Affordable Housing v v

The Licensing Bill [Lords] and the Evening Economy v v

Planning for Sustainable Housing and Communities: Sustainable Communities in the South East v v

Planning, Competitiveness and Productivity v v

Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity v

Living Places: Cleaner, Safer Greener v

The Draft Housing Bill v v

The Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance v v

The Electoral Commission and the Boundary Committee for England v

Social Cohesion v v v

Coalfield Communities v v

The Fire Service v v

ODPM Annual Report and Accounts 2003 v v

Decent Homes v v v

Visits

3. The opportunity to travel both in the UK and abroad as part of our work, and to see examples of good and bad practice is something that we regard as important as a means of gathering information and views - a "reality check". During 2003 we combined visits to Taunton and Newcastle upon Tyne with public evidence sessions as part of our inquiry into Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity. The Committee also visited Germany in March as part of the same inquiry. We spent three days in Oldham in September pursuing our ongoing inquiry into Social Cohesion, visiting local organisations before taking evidence in public for a day and a half. Our recent visit to the United States was in relation to our inquiries into Social Cohesion, and the Role of Historic Buildings in Urban Regeneration.

4. During 2003 we also undertook visits to Nottingham and Leicester in relation to our inquiry into Living Places, Cleaner, Safer Greener; to Soho as part of our inquiry into the Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance; to Greenwich and Dartford when we were inquiring into Planning for Sustainable Housing and Communities: Sustainable Housing in the South East; and most recently to Easington and the Dearne Valley in relation to our inquiry into Coalfield Communities.

Core tasks

5. Following a resolution of the House of May 2002,[4] the Liaison Committee has determined that select committees should be expected to perform a number of 'core tasks'. These are to carry out inquiries into (a) Government policy proposals, (b) areas seen to require examination because of deficiencies, (c) departmental actions, (d) associated public bodies (of the Department), (e) major appointments, and (f) implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives. The Liaison Committee also proposed that details be given of the examination of any draft legislation, expenditure and performance against Public Service Agreement targets. An analysis of our performance of these core tasks is set out in Table 2 below. Further analysis of our work is contained in an Annex to this report, which sets out selected recommendations of previous reports, together with the Government response.

Table 2: Subjects covered by the ODPM Committee, 2003

Subject	Evidence sessions in 2003	Sub-committee?	Outcome
Local Government Finance: Formula Grant Distribution	-	No	Report, January 2003
Planning, Competitiveness and Productivity	-	No	Report, February 2003
Departmental Annual Report and Accounts 2002	1	No	Report, March 2003
The Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives	1	Yes	Report, April 2003
Affordable Housing	-	No	Report, February 2003
The Licensing Bill [Lords] and the Evening Economy	*	Yes	Report, March 2003
Planning for Sustainable Housing and Communities: Sustainable Communities in the South East	5	No	Report, April 2003
Reducing Regional Disparities	6	No	Report, July 2003
The Draft Housing Bill	6	No	Report, July 2003
The Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance	3	Yes	Report, August 2003
Living Places: Cleaner, Safer, Greener	3	Yes	Report, July 2003
The Electoral Commission and the Boundary Committee for England	1	No	Minutes of Evidence, November 2003
ODPM Annual Report and Accounts 2003	2	No	Report, December 2003
Social Cohesion	3	No	-
The Fire Service	5	No	-
Coalfield Communities	2	Yes	-
Decent Homes	2	No	-

* Drew on 3 evidence sessions held for the Sub-committee's inquiry into 'The Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance'

Identification of inquiries

Government Policy Proposals

6. Our inquiry into Planning for Sustainable Housing and Communities in the South East was in response to the Government's policy, announced in July 2002[5] to increase house-building in the South East. In February 2003, as part of its Communities Plan,[6] it revealed further details about funding and announced the creation of new agencies to promote housing development. We considered the potential impact of such a big house-building programme and, in particular whether sustainable communities will be created.

7. Our inquiry into Living Places: Cleaner, Safer, Greener responded to the ODPM's publication in October 2002 at the Urban Summit of a Paper with the same title.[7] At the same time Defra published Living Places: Powers Rights Responsibilities,[8] which put forward plans to give local authorities new powers to manage public spaces, and allocated new funds. This inquiry looked at management issues, mainly of existing spaces, including green spaces, parks and hard spaces such as streets and pavements. In our report, we considered whether management arrangements and resources are adequate to bring them up to a satisfactory condition.

8. We will shortly publish a report on the Fire Service, in response to the Government White Paper.[9]

Areas seen by the Committee as requiring examination because of deficiencies

9. This year three of our inquiries were prompted in part by deficiencies in the ODPM or its Agencies. Our inquiry into Affordable Housing[10] highlighted the fact that many people in the UK cannot afford to buy or rent a home because of high house prices and the increase in the number of households, largely because of the growth in one person households and international inward migration. At the same time, far fewer subsidised affordable homes are being built than 10 years ago, although the number of new private homes built for sale has remained relatively constant. The effect of a shortage of housing for key workers has had an impact on the economy. The Government has since published its Communities Plan,[11] which seeks to address these issues.

10. We undertook an inquiry into the Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance,[12] which contrasted the inclusive evening economy of most European cities where people of all ages participate in a range of activities, with the evening activities of British cities which centre around young people and alcohol, leading to associated problems of crime and disorder, noise and nuisance. Local authorities need the planning and licensing systems to support their management of the evening and late-night economies and to give them the ability to balance evening and late-night uses of town and city centres.

11. In inquiries over the last decade our predecessor Committees had been struck that so little seemed to have been achieved of lasting value by many government regeneration initiatives. Consultants' reports often claimed that output measures (eg. number of jobs created) had been met, but, in fact, large sums of additional money have been spent on the same deprived areas over and over again without bringing about a significant and lasting improvement. This prompted our inquiry into the Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives.[13] We recommended that when the funding of the current government area-based regeneration initiatives expires no more centrally driven national initiatives should be launched; that local authorities with regeneration needs should be encouraged to develop their own regeneration plans which identify local needs; and that central Government should negotiate additional resources with local authorities to fund the regeneration goals identified in these plans.

Departmental actions

12. The Government announced the provisional local government finance settlement for England for 2003/04 on 5 December 2002.[14] There was a consultation period until 14 January 2003. The settlement for 2003/04 followed a four year review of local government finance and was based on new data and new formulae for calculating the revenue grant to local authorities. Our report into Local Government Finance: Formula Grant Distribution,[15] published on 3 January was not intended to be a comprehensive review of the 5 December announcement. Rather it looked at a number of the key issues of process and principle arising from the review and the options chosen by the Government.

Associated public bodies

13. The Department has few associated public bodies. During the year we have taken evidence from a number of them as part of our broader inquiries, including the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation. In 2004 we will undertake an inquiry specifically into the Housing Corporation and we will take further evidence from English Partnerships.

Major appointments

14. The establishment of the ODPM led to changes in Ministers in 2002. In May 2003 there was a Government re-shuffle, which led to further changes in the Ministerial team. We have taken evidence from ODPM Ministers on 10 occasions during the year, and from Ministers from other departments on 14 occasions. We have had problems on several occasions in arranging appointments to take evidence from ODPM Ministers. We were disappointed that Ministers from the Home Office and ODPM declined to come and give evidence to the Committee when we were in Oldham in September inquiring into Social Cohesion.

15. We intend to take evidence from the new chairman of the Housing Corporation early in 2004.

Implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives

16. None of our inquiries during 2003 were primarily focussed on the effect of legislation, but our inquiries into the Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives, Local Government Finance: Formula Grant Distribution, Affordable Housing, and the Evening Economy and the Urban Renaissance all embraced an element of review of the legislative framework, and in a number of cases led to conclusions and recommendations which would require changes to the law.

Draft legislation

17. We were asked to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Housing Bill, which was announced in the Queen's Speech in November 2002.[16] The draft Bill was published on 31 March.[17] We took evidence in June, in time to publish our report on 22 July 2003.[18] In the House on 1 December, The Deputy Prime Minister said "I am grateful to the Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions for its report on the draft Bill. It has once again demonstrated the value of pre-legislative scrutiny—there is no doubt about that, and anyone reading the report can see how it adds to the value of the Bill. I am pleased that the Committee broadly welcomed the Bill's aims. In our response published on 10 November we were able to respond positively to 40 of the Select Committee's recommendations, out of approximately 72, and to its conclusions, including those on houses in multiple occupation, the right to buy and the possible phased introduction of home information packs."[19] The Housing Bill was read a second time on 12 January 2004.[20]

Expenditure

18. Most of our inquiries during the year have involved examination of expenditure in one way or another. Our inquiry into the Annual Report and Estimates 2002[21] looked at Departmental expenditure, and we have recently completed the same exercise for 2003.[22] Our inquiry into the Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives was designed to establish whether money spent on regeneration is used effectively, and we have recently completed an inquiry into Coalfield Communities which raised similar issues.

Public Service Agreements

19. Our inquiry into Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity examined the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to reduce disparities in economic growth. This is a joint target, shared by ODPM, the Department of Trade and Industry and HM Treasury. The examination of PSAs and their associated targets were also a significant aspect of our inquiries into the Departmental Report and Estimates 2002, and The ODPM Annual Report and Accounts 2003, and the Decent Homes target is the main focus for our current inquiry.