9. Debate: The General Principles of the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 13 February 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 5:58, 13 February 2018

Thank you. I'd very much like to thank all Members who have participated in the debate today, and, as I said at the start of my contribution, in terms of the scrutiny of the Bill thus far, I think that engagement has been very, very constructive indeed. I think it's useful, perhaps, if I just set out some thoughts on what this Bill isn't about. There is nothing in this Bill that would, for example, take away from the core aims of RSLs in terms of their job of providing affordable, good quality housing for the people who need it most. In fact, they are very much committed to that agenda and recently published a plan looking forward as far as 2035 in terms of setting out how they will continue to go about doing that, but doing it in a way that moves towards a zero-carbon agenda, that seeks to maintain as much of the value of the investment here in Wales, and which also focuses on that provision of quality and always driving up quality.

There's nothing in the Bill, also, that diminishes the robustness of the regulatory regime that we have in Wales, and it doesn't affect any of the fundamental commitments, either, that were made to tenants at the point of transfer. So, the large-scale voluntary transfer RSLs, for example, will still have to deliver on and maintain the Welsh quality housing standard. So, there are many kinds of issues that have been looked at through the passage of the Bill to this point, but there are some fundamentals that don't change as a result of this Bill, which, as we've discussed, is quite limited in its scope and purpose.

David Melding—