Social Rented Housing: Regulation

(asked on 20th September 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of lowering the threshold at which the Regulator for Social Housing can make statutory appointments to the boards of non-compliant registered providers.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 28th September 2022

The Regulator uses statutory appointments to strengthen the boards of non-compliant providers, where the board lacks the skills and capacity to provide effective governance. This allows the Regulator to appoint people with relevant expertise and experience, depending on the weaknesses of the existing board that need to be addressed.  Ultimately, this supports the provider to return to compliance, to the benefit of its tenants.

It is crucial that the Regulator is able to use this power effectively when needed. We are making a minor amendment to the Bill which will allow the Regulator to use the power where there are no board members but an officer remains, addressing a potential gap that exists currently.  We are also clarifying that the Regulator can appoint officers where a provider is in breach of a regulatory standard. Co-regulation only works if providers have effective boards. These changes are vital in ensuring that the Regulator can act decisively and effectively to address the weaknesses on a board.

Reticulating Splines