HC Deb 04 November 1970 vol 805 cc1075-8
39. Mr. Clinton Davis

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment why he dissolved the Cohen Sub-Committee on Housing Associations.

11. Mr. Ian Lloyd

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to encourage the growth of voluntary housing associations.

Mr. Peter Walker

I believe that voluntary housing can make a worthwhile contribution to the housing programme and offer a choice in rented accommodation. A report is, therefore, being prepared by my Department based on the evidence assembled by the Cohen Committee.

Mr. Clinton Davis

Why has the right hon. Gentleman dissolved the Cohen Committee, if his answer is true? Is not the truth of the matter that the Committee was to report that a considerable concentration of the whole housing association movement was needed, that a number of housing associations were not capable of properly administering their properties, and that the contribution which the housing associations are now making to this country's housing situation is only marginal? Is it not a reflection—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Supplementary questions must be brief.

Mr. Clinton Davis

Is it not a reflection on the Government's integrity that they decide to suppress a Sub-Committee when they do not like its views?

Mr. Walker

The hon. Gentleman is completely wrong in saying that the Sub-Committee was suppressed. The reason why I decided to complete the report within the Department was that the Sub-Committee was having administrative difficulties in completing its report, and I was advised that the report would be made available far more quickly if it were done within the Department. I received no protest from members of the Committee when I decided to take this action.

Mr. Crosland

With respect, that is not a satisfactory answer. Was this not a most distinguished Sub-Committee, presided over by Sir Karl Cohen from Leeds, with among its membership the housing manager of Sheffield and Mr. Peter Cadbury among the independents? Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise that the House should know what the views of the independents were, not what the views of the Ministry were, and will he assure the House that, when he comes to produce his purely official report, we shall have some knowledge of what the views of the independent persons were?

Mr. Walker

Yes, Sir; I am anxious that all the information should be available so that a rational decision can be made on the future of housing associations. I shall publish the report, and, if any member of the Committee would like to have evidence which he took, or his own views, published, he will be free to do so. I have no wish to conceal anything; I am only too happy that everything that has been put forward should come out.

Mr. Selwyn Gummer

Does my right hon. Friend agree that at this time, when he is doing his negotiation with various local authorities, he could push home the importance of such housing associations, which has been proved already, for example, in Lewisham?

Mr. Walker

There are problems in the housing associations. I am anxious to proceed as quickly as possible so that the important evidence given by a diversity of people to this Committee should be available for consideration.

Mr. Crosland

I am partially reassured by what the right hon. Gentleman said, but, when the report is published, will it be a report of the views of officials of the Ministry or will it be a report expressing the views of the members of the Cohen Committee?

Mr. Walker

It will be a report based upon all the evidence given to the Committee. Copies of the report will be made available to the members of the Committee. If the Committee, either individually or collectively, wishes to provide an opinion on that report, I shall be very pleased to receive it.

The whole objective was to speed up the report on a very important matter. If I may say so, the right hon. Gentleman, with his experience in office, should know of the incredible delays which went on in the Committee.

Mr. Crosland

This is not satisfactory. I understand the position—unless the right hon. Gentleman corrects me—to be this. As the Cohen Committee has been dissolved, will not the report be an officials' report from the Ministry, and the only way of discovering the views of the Cohen Committee will be if the members of the Committee individually comment on the report? Is this not a wholly unsatisfactory state of affairs?

Mr. Walker

If the members of the Committee would like to gather together after the report has been published—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—they will be perfectly free to do so. If I may say so, this criticism comes ill from a member of the former Government who, for months, allowed this Committee not to sit at all because they did not provide it with the proper staffing.

Sir Harmar Nicholls

To avoid this report being denigrated out of existence before it is made, will my right hon. Friend repeat that the distinguished gentlemen who sat on the original Committee will have not only a right but a duty to comment upon it if it is different from the evidence which they collected while in office?

Mr. Walker

A number of these distinguished gentlemen very much liked the fact that the report was to be speeded up in this way.