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Lord Bassam of Brighton: Clause 145(4) enables the Secretary of State to make provision for the approval of one or more certification schemes. Subsection (5) lists a number of points on which the Secretary of State
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would need to be satisfied before approving a scheme. They include home inspectors being fit and proper persons to carry out home condition reports, having adequate indemnity insurance and a complaint resolution procedure being in place.
Amendment No. 203 would replace the word "may" with "shall" in subsection (3) of Clause 145. We think that it is appropriate to use the word "may" rather than "shall" in this instance as there is no requirement for the regulations empowered by Clause 144 to be made. However, the use of the word "may" does not imply that the regulations will not be made, nor that home condition reports will be carried out other than by members of an approved certification scheme. The rest of the provisions in the Bill cannot work unless the contents of the pack are prescribed in regulations. I can assure the noble Baroness that the Secretary of State has every intention, after full consultation with interested parties, of making regulations under Clause 144 which will deal with the provisions in Clause 145.
As I said, Clause 145(4) allows the Secretary of State to approve one or more certification schemes. The effect of Amendment No. 204 would be to restrict that power so that only one scheme could be approved at any one time, effectively giving the scheme a monopoly over the certification of home inspectors. I do not know whether that was the noble Baroness's intention but that is what its effect would be. We do not consider that that step would be in the best interests of home inspectors or ultimately, perhaps more importantly, consumers. In the event that the certification scheme was failing, it would be difficult for a second scheme to be introduced quickly enough to offer a viable alternative. Therefore, if the amendment were at some stage to be successful, effectively it would create a monopoly situation which would not work to the benefit of the consumer or supplier of the service.
While there would be the advantage of certainty in having a single scheme—we have no current reasons to believe that approval is likely to be sought for more than one—I think it is important for the Secretary of State to have some flexibility here to approve another scheme or schemes if that were to become necessary or desirable. Crucially, whether it is one scheme, two or three, all will have to meet the same exacting standards. Listening to what the noble Baroness said, that is probably a shared objective because we all want to ensure that the home condition report is a document of value.
Amendment No. 205 would require the Secretary of State to approve any qualification and training schemes set up to train home inspectors. We do not think that that is either necessary or practicable, for the reasons that I shall now set out. As part of the process of approving a certification scheme, the Secretary of State will need to be satisfied about its arrangements for ensuring that applicants for membership are properly competent.
In September 2003, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority approved national occupational standards for home inspectors. The standards clearly set out the skills and knowledge that
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should be acquired by home inspectors. Candidates should be trained and assessed to ensure that they meet prescribed standards.
Rather than have a single, one-size-fits-all training course, we propose to allow competition and choice. We envisage that the certification scheme will appoint an awarding body or bodies that will establish qualifications in home inspection. That process is already well under way. On 1 September this year, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority approved a qualification in home inspection, submitted by the Awarding Body for the Built Environment, in the expectation of Royal Assent and subsequent approval of the ABBE as an awarding body.
In turn, the awarding body could appoint assessment centres that can assess and give credit for candidates' prior knowledge and experience and identify any gaps where additional training is required. We expect that these training needs will be filled, for example, through courses provided by universities or colleges or major employers of surveyors. All candidates would then need to sit a final test set and marked by the awarding body before being awarded the home inspection qualification required to be admitted to membership of a certification scheme.
That seems to us to be an effective and entirely appropriate regime for ensuring that home inspectors are appropriately qualified and trained. Obviously, we have worked hard with the potential awarding bodies, the university sector, the professional organisations and so forth to ensure that what we have set up and designed works effectively so that there can be trust and confidence in home inspectors and their product; that is, the report. I hope that that helps the noble Baroness.
The Earl of Caithness: Perhaps I may ask the Minister a question on this qualification. It follows the answer that the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, kindly gave me last week. I have been looking for it for the last couple of minutes and cannot find it. I asked about the costs that had been paid to a company called SAVA, which is now no longer anything to do with the ODPM but those that were involved in that section of SAVA have now set up a company called Property Industry Research Limited (PIR) and have a big contract with the ODPM.
From memory the Minister's letter said that the total of the contracts first to SAVA and now to PIR are something in excess of £2 million. Later in the paragraph he mentions another figure of £2 million. That figure, coincidentally, is the same as the total of the two figures that he gave me earlier for SAVA and PIR. Can he confirm that the total amount of the contract is just over £2 million or is it £4.2 million or thereabouts?
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Lord Bassam of Brighton: My noble friend Lord Rooker has provided me with a copy of this. The total value of the contract is £2,114,913.
The Earl of Caithness: Is that the total that the ODPM has so far spent on these two companies in the contract, and that will be the end of it?
Lord Bassam of Brighton: All I can say to the noble Earl is that that is the total value of the contract.
Baroness Hanham: It is too late to go into the details of this but what we will need to be satisfied about—I am not satisfied yet—is that the training of these inspectors will be such that they will be in a position to do a survey which is adequate; in fact, not adequate, more than adequate. If the home condition survey is not comparable to the survey which is carried out on premises at the moment, buyers will not rely upon it. It is terribly important that we get clear the standard of this home condition report. Does the Minister agree with that?
Lord Bassam of Brighton: I want to agree with the noble Baroness in this sense. It is one of those situations where we are not quite comparing like with like. I understand what the noble Baroness says, but home inspectors will not need to be qualified to what one might describe as the full RICS standard, largely because they are not undertaking the full range of tasks that are included in the chartered surveyor's qualification. I think the noble Baroness needs to accept that point. However, that said, we want them to be of a very high standard indeed.
We have worked very hard with the relevant bodies so that we can have confidence in this and so that the market itself and those institutions and bodies which are part of the market are satisfied. That work has been ongoing. As I said earlier, we have had very extensive discussions with stakeholders to ensure that we achieve the very high standard that will be required so that confidence can be assured.
No doubt the noble Baroness will want to tease more of that out at a later stage, but that is our intention. We recognise the essential importance of the issue.
Baroness Hanham: I thank the Minister for his reply. For today, we beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 204 and 205 not moved.]
Baroness Maddock moved Amendment No. 205A:
"( ) for ensuring that members of the scheme are completely independent and have no links financial or otherwise with the responsible person;"
The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 205A amends Clause 145 by dealing with regulations that may be made concerning members of approved certification schemes. The purpose of the amendment is to make it absolutely clear that home inspectors
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must be independent. The hour is late but this is an important amendment. It is absolutely essential for buyers to know that home inspectors are completely independent if they are going to have the confidence to rely on home condition reports commissioned by sellers. Given the decisions we have had about these reports already this evening, that is very important.
Members of a scheme who are linked to estate agents, mortgage lenders, building fabric warranty providers and financial product providers may not sufficiently protect the consumer in our view. I think that this is a difficult issue. We believe that independence is an important consumer protection for both sellers and buyers to ensure that pressures are not brought to bear on members of a scheme which could influence the contents of the report.
I hope that the Government agree with us on this. They may not think that the amendment should be here, and they may have made provision for it elsewhere in the Bill where we have not found it. However, I think that the issue is important. I beg to move.
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