Speeches by Reed.

“I am not sure that he has announced that he is going to do that. I think we will have to wait and see exactly what he comes forward with.”

“Well, the Speaker announced in the Chamber yesterday that that would happen before recess, so that is correct, yes.”

“I agree with you on the importance of this. We all put great store by the role of the Housing Ombudsman in overseeing the different sectors of housing and making sure that there is an appropriate system to seek redress and change when things are going wrong. It is very important. It is important that the Government has…”

“I have had a meeting with Andy Burnham, where we talked through where we were up to on devolution and the development of the place agenda. He is formulating his proposals for a No. 10 in the north and exactly what will operate out of that new centre. It strikes me as very sensible to put part of the operation in the no…”

“The Cabinet Secretary, as Minister Pennycook pointed out, has issued guidance that all Departments are to follow during the transition. That is normal—”

“Specifically, areas where we would be initiating new policy or spending commitments. There are a number of areas where the incoming Prime Minister would want to take a view. I have some of them here: announcements on high street funding; the overnight visitor levy, where the consultation has been under way and will be …”

“If I wanted to do that, I would go to speak to the incoming Prime Minister rather than the august members of this Committee. He is a busy man, but I would like to think he is watching proceedings.”

“Sorry, 392,000 homes built since the general election, which was before all the reforms I outlined to planning, regulation and the London stimulus had come through. The London stimulus, of course, is taking cost out of the system. The planning reforms, by speeding up the planning process, are taking cost out of the sys…”

“It is more important to get it right than to rush it through when we do not think it is right at this stage. Richard Blakeway has done a very important job overseeing the release of a nationwide complaint-handling code. As I said, he has long been a very powerful advocate for social housing. We will make appropriate in…”

“Many of those areas were the focus of work already under way in the Department.”

“Not as far as I am aware.”

“He has talked about taking more, that’s right, but he has not said specifically what areas yet. That would really be for him to decide and to outline.”

“Because you invited me, didn’t you?”

“I am Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.”

“Oh, right. I didn’t know. As I understood it, this was already scheduled at your invitation.”

“Maybe that is the reason, then. There you are.”

“There is a whole swathe of things that I think are really important. As the Chair said, MHCLG has the biggest legislative programme of any Department, and it has a very broad remit. I feel that we have made progress in the 10 months that I have been in the role in a lot of those areas. The Government’s priority has bee…”

“It is not my biggest regret. There are a lot of factors influencing it that are outside the Government’s control, such as the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the availability and cost of materials. The cost of wood, steel, cement and bricks—a lot of those materials—shot up dramatically, as did the cost of lab…”

“Well, Richard Blakeway remains in post until the end of the month. We will make appropriate interim arrangements following his departure. I have known Richard Blakeway a long time; he was deputy mayor for housing back when I was a borough leader in London. He is very competent, but he is completing the end of his secon…”

“I think it is appropriate in this kind of transition, which we have seen fairly frequently over the last decade, that the incoming Prime Minister should have a chance to look at significant reforms of that kind before they complete their journey through. While of course I would have wished for this to all be completed …”