§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the registered social landlords under investigation by the Housing Corporation; and if he will make a statement. [148728]
§ Yvette CooperThe Housing Corporation is responsible for some 2,000 registered social landlords in England. To comply with the Corporation's Regulatory Code, all registered social landlords provide the Corporation with financial and regulatory information. The Corporation conducts a range of regulatory reviews as part of its routine regulatory exchanges. The Corporation has statutory powers to direct an inquiry into the affairs of a registered social landlord. There is currently only one such inquiry under way, into Solon Wandsworth Housing Association Ltd.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received from registered social landlords on allowing them to exceed the cap in relation to the rent increases set down in the Government's rent restructuring policy; and if he will make a statement. [148729]
§ Yvette CooperThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created in May 2002. Since this time, we have received four written representations from registered social landlords (RSLs) seeking a revision to the cap on rents of properties with the highest capital values which is incorporated into our rent restructuring policy. The current cap in 2003–04 ranges from £87.30 for a bedsit to £102.70 for a property with four or more bedrooms. For the small number of properties affected by this safeguard, the maximum increase in future years is set at Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 1 per cent. a year.
As set out in our initial policy, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently conducting a three-year review of the policy, with the aim of completing this in the spring.