Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Baroness David: My Lords, if the Minister is writing letters, perhaps he could place copies of them in the Library.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, of course I shall do that.
Lord Avebury: My Lords, may I ask the Minister to address the issues that I raised?
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury. The provision applies only in the case of intentional homelessness. It was difficult to work out from the example that he gave whether the circumstances constituted intentional or unintentional homelessness. If it were a case of unintentional homelessness, the provision would not apply.
We need to consider carefully how the types of issue that the noble Lord raised would be addressed in guidance. I am sorry to be vague on the point, but the provision is only now being added to the Bill and we have to think very carefully about the guidance before we produce it. However, I shall consult him before we go forward with the guidance.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 15 [Allocation schemes]:
Baroness Maddock moved Amendment No. 2:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I apologise for taking up the time of the House. However, as my noble friend Lord Avebury said, we might not be pressing some of these issues so much if the guidance were past the draft stage.
Amendment No. 2 is designed to ensure that local authorities exercise their discretion in determining the priority given to applications in line with the Government's policy intentions, by stipulating more clearly the behaviour defined in Clause 15(3)(2A). We believe that the provision should be limited to deliberate, wilful or negligent behaviour, whichto be quite clearcould include anti-social, threatening or violent behaviour, applicants who have previously wilfully refused to pay their rent and applicants who have deliberately caused damage to their own or to others' property. I believe that the amendment would also make it clear that issues such as low-level rent arrears and problems caused by inefficient housing benefit payments should not affect the priority given to an application.
I raised this issue in the House last week and I have also written to the Minister about it. I therefore hope that it will be possible for him to say something about the guidance on it. Although I realise that priority should be left to the discretion of individual authorities, I am sure that the Minister will agree that
the housing Green Paper set out a framework giving priority to housing need and that that is what this Bill is about. So far, the draft guidance that I have seen seems very weak. We have established during the Bill's passage that the practices of some local authorities leave much to be desired.I hope that the Minister can reassure me on those points. I should be particularly grateful if he would emphasise the types of circumstance in which he could not envisage priority being reduced.
We have come to the end of the Bill's passage. As the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham said, it has not been particularly controversial. I think that we all hope that the Bill is passed and that its operation is as successful as we have discussed. However, its success will depend on resources. I therefore hope that the Minister will reassure us that, at least after one year, there will be a review of the legislation's operation and cost. Some local authorities are concerned that the department's estimates do not reflect the true costs.
As I said, I very much welcome the Bill. In another place, I took part in the passage of the Housing Act 1996. I was very disappointed that it took so long to pass that legislation, which had previously been piloted through Parliament as a Private Member's Bill by Stephen Ross, the then Liberal Democrator LiberalMP for the Isle of Wight. I am also sorry that it has taken us so many years to put right some of the things that we got wrong in that legislation. Nevertheless, as I said, we welcome the Bill, and we thank the Minister for the constructive way in which he has dealt with all our queries. I beg to move.
The Earl of Listowel: My Lords, in relation to Amendment No. 2 I echo the concerns expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Maddock, that adequate funds will be made available to put into practice this Bill, which has received such wide support in the House and whose importance we all recognise. The Government set aside £8 million for local authorities to meet their additional costs. The Local Government Association estimates that the actual costs will be double that sum or more.
As the noble Baroness requested, perhaps the Minister will indicate whether or not the Government will be reviewing the cost to local authorities in the first 12 months after the Bill comes into operation in order to ensure that no additional financial burdens are being placed on already over-stretched local authorities.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I deal first with Amendment No. 2. Authorities may wish to take account of both good and less good behaviour, where that has been demonstrated by individual applicants. I have previously given as examples two applicants, one with a history of persistent but minor rent arrears and another who has demonstrated that he or she is a model tenant. All other factors being equal, the authority may consider the latter deserves more priority than the former. The qualification imposed by the amendment would then be wholly inappropriate.
However, I knowthe noble Baroness has made it clear to me personally and in correspondencethat the noble Baroness has genuine concerns and perhaps I can try to address those and seek to reassure her. One such concern is that some authorities are not paying heed to current guidance that urges authorities not to exclude people from the housing register for low-level rent arrears, and urges them to take housing need into account before making decisions to exclude.
I would point out that the statutory guidance that is currently in force regarding Part VI of the 1996 Act is that issued in December 1996, and does not address those issues very forcefully. Indeed, at paragraph 4.27 it suggests that the groups that authorities may wish to exclude as non-qualifying persons might include tenants with a record of rent arrears. Although this Government issued revised guidance on Part VI for consultation in 1999 which addresses those issues more fully, that does not have statutory force. Authorities therefore are not required by law to have regard to it.
I can assure the noble Baroness that the guidance that will be issued in support of the Bill will include robust guidance on the issues that she is concerned with here. We will make clear, for example, that in making any decisions as to the degree of priority that should be given to individual applicants, the level of their housing need should be a factor that is taken into account. We will also make clear that it would be unreasonable and inappropriate for an authority to reduce priority because of rent arrears that are due to housing benefit delays beyond the control of the applicant.
Another concern of the noble Baroness is that she has seen an early draft of the guidance that she feels is weak on some of these pointsif that is not understating the position. I hope she will let me reassure her that the guidance is still very much in development. It has moved on from the earlier draft. There will be an opportunity for detailed consideration of this, and an opportunity to take me to task if I have not met the various commitments made during the passage of the Bill, when we consult on that guidance.
I hope that provides some reassurance on the points made in relation to the amendment. The noble Baroness and the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, raised the issue of resources. This is not the appropriate place to talk about resources but perhaps I can say, as we announced towards the middle of last month, that we have set in place the introduction of a homelessness directorate that will take on what the Rough Sleepers' Unit did, what the Bed and Breakfast Unit did, and the other aspects of central government's activities in relation to homelessness. I hope that at about the same time as this Bill becomes law, it will be possible to make an announcement about its activities.
Baroness Maddock: My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord for that very full reply. He has satisfied me on the points that I raised.
Given the fact that the guidance was not ready during the passage of the Bill, perhaps he will be in a position to enable us, at some future date, to debate the
issues and discuss some of the genuine concerns that have been raised. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Schedule 1 [Minor and consequential amendments]:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton moved Amendment No. 3:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, on Report the noble Baroness, Lady Maddock, helpfully identified a numbering error in one of the suite of amendments that I tabled which were intended to bridge gaps in the provisions of the Housing Act which allow housing authorities to secure accommodation for homelessness applicants pending a review by the authority of its homelessness decision and pending an appeal to the county court on a point of law. This is a purely technical amendment to correct the error.
The noble Baroness raised a number of other issues and permitted the amendment to go through on the basis that I would deal with those points. Though it is not strictly germane to my amendment, perhaps I can take this opportunity to clarify a point that was raised during the passage of the Bill in relation to non-priority need applicants.
The issue is that local authorities should have a duty to secure accommodation for applicants who are homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need. At the inquiry stage there is an interim duty to accommodate if the authority has reason to believe that applicants may meet those criteria. Where, following the inquiries, the authority is satisfied that those criteria are met, it must accept the main homelessness duty to secure accommodation. Where the authority is satisfied that there is eligibility and priority need, but considers that the homelessness was intentional, there is a power to accommodate pending a review or appeal.
Elsewhere the Bill gives authorities a discretionary power to assist applicants where they are satisfied the applicant is eligible, unintentionally homeless and does not have a priority need. The purpose is to ensure that authorities are able to assist such applicants, including by securing accommodation, where local circumstances and resources allowfor example, in areas where housing demand is low.
While one effect of that is to give authorities a general power to accommodate such applicants pending reviews and appeals, that is not its main purpose. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that it is inconsistent that authorities should have a power to accommodate where they are satisfied that such applicants do not have priority need, but they do not have a power to do so, pending inquiries, where they are not so satisfied.
I have explained the rationale behind the powers which are explicit in the homelessness legislation; that is, taking together the current provisions in Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 and the provisions in the Bill. However, in the absence of a specific power in the homelessness legislation, it would be open to
authorities to decide to use the "promotion of well-being" power in Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 to accommodate homeless applicants where they consider that would promote or improve the social well-being of the area and was consistent with any community strategy prepared under Section 4 of the 2000 Act.
As this will be the last time I speak in the course of the passage of this Bill, perhaps I can thank all noble Lords who contributed to the debate, which has been in the main incredibly constructive. Together we have improved the Bill. Also, I thank the Bill team for the work they have done and for their support, which has helped the deliberations of the House: Avril Huston, Alan Edwards, Bronwyn Hill, Duncan Campbell, David Gleave, Paddy Knowles, John Wright, Katie Goodall and Tom Walker in my private office. I beg to move.
Next Section
Back to Table of Contents
Lords Hansard Home Page