Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 December (HL4002), whether the Social Housing Regulator identified the absence of any residents on the Management Board of Circle Housing Group as being a contributory factor in that organisation’s failure to manage properly its repairs and maintenance service, and if so, what action the regulator has required in this regard.

The rationale for the Social Housing Regulator’s decision to downgrade Circle from G1 to G3 is set out in its published narrative judgement (attached). This is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/420527/Circle_Anglia_Limited_RJ.pdf

Where a provider is not compliant with a regulatory standard, the Social Housing Regulator’s judgement focuses on the outcome that constitutes a breach of the standard. As an independent organisation, it is for the board of the registered provider to address the causes of the breach in order to ensure that it returns to compliance with the standard.