Job swaps are a great idea

I welcome the idea to exchange inspectors with housing association officers ("Plan for inspectors to do one-year job swaps with housing officers", 7 May, page 10). We have been campaigning for this for five years.

This action should not be selective but should ensure exchanges with small associations and black and minority-ethnic specialists, a sector where there seems to be a big gap in the institutions on knowledge management.

I hope also that the Housing Corporation will follow suit and second regulators with registered social landlords for six to 12 months. They would then understand the key constraints in housing management, in which the government asks us to give a service of £200 a week for £50 rent collected, and still live through all the tick-box culture.

Without this, the regulators and inspectors will not understand or appreciate the real problems and functions management faces on the ground. Perhaps then regulations and inspections will have a meaningful role.

More importantly, it is also the senior officers in policy and decision-making to be spending time at grassroots level, gaining knowledge management, which will benefit the sector in the long term.