Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 06 November 2025
I am not sure that it encompasses all of them. Katy Clark can speak to this, but the bill has changed over time in response to soundings that have been taken as to what would be possible, rather than what would be perfect. We are trying to address the biggest impediments, instead of simply attaching to the bill some desirable aspects that might not necessarily be fundamental.
As for your point about committee scrutiny, we are in some respects back to where we were at that time. We recognised the difficulties then, but the question was: what do we do about it? We have now—eventually—designated housing associations and public bodies that operate at arm’s length from local authorities, but it took a long time to get there. These things should have been anticipated when the changes in question were being made—for example, it should have been recognised that people would lose rights when their council house transferred to a housing association.
I remember speaking to the chief executive of greater Glasgow housing association; we were all geared up for that to become a designated body—it had, in fact, appointed a member of staff and set aside resources for that—and then the plug was pulled. It is not really the fault of the associations; it is the fault of those with the capacity and the power to designate.