INDEPENDENT HOUSING ADVICE (Hansard, 30 April 1996)

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Hon. Members will be happy to know that we are getting towards the end of the amendments.

§ Mr. Clappison
The hon. Gentleman's pager is going off.

§ Mr. Hughes
I know, the red light is flashing. It is a warning for the Government, not for us. I shall not read out the message, because it may be inappropriate. The advice that people are currently given is inadequate to protect would-be tenants, would-be shared owners and would-be purchasers. The new clause would establish an independent, recognised housing advice agency in every local authority area. We would need to promote the work of such agencies.
I am sure that the Minister is aware that some people enter into tenancy agreements—particularly in the private sector—but do not know what they are letting themselves in for. Clearly, they have not taken good or competent advice. Many people have bought their own properties—particularly from local authorities as leaseholders—without having been given proper advice by their lawyers. Those people should have the opportunity to take action against their then legal advisers, but that would be the long way around.
The most recent example—I shared it with hon. Members in another context yesterday—relates to people who have gone into shared ownership arrangements but who have not understood all the implications—in other words, they have been caught. We have to ensure that when people become owner-occupiers, share owners or tenants, they understand the score. They should not be subjected to propaganda that persuades them that 1046 owner-occupation is what they want—it may be the last thing they need. I hope that the Minister can give a helpful response.

§ Mr. Clappison
It is important that people receive advice in these situations. However, the Housing Corporation is not the right body to provide that advice. The hon. Gentleman will see that clause 154 places a duty on local authorities to provide such advice. The Department of the Environment also provides substantial funding for various voluntary bodies to provide such advice. They are the right people to provide the advice.

§ Mr. Hughes
I ask the Minister to reflect on whether the local authority is always the appropriate body—it has a vested interest as it is the landlord of a lot of the stock and it is the one that sells under the right to buy. Is the Minister satisfied that there is a recognised advice agency that is independent of the local authority in each local authority area, at least in England?

§ Mr. Clappison
I assure the hon. Gentleman that organisations such as Shelter and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux are provided with funding from the Department of the Environment to provide the sort of advice that he described.

§ Mr. Hughes
It would be helpful for all hon. Members to have that information for our constituents, and I encourage that. So long as people are given advice, they will not get into a muddle. I hope that the advice will be clear in the future. On the basis that the Government will seek to ensure that that advice is given to everyone, and that people are not subject to propaganda in the future in the way they have been in the past, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.