Communities minister Ruth Kelly tells House of Commons she has decided to formally extend the review
The government has announced a delay of the merger between English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation.
Communities minister Ruth Kelly told the House of Commons this week that she had decided to formally extend the review to include the Department for Communities and Local Government’s housing and regeneration delivery functions.
As predicted in Building two weeks ago, the review will look at two options. These are merging EP and the corporation and leaving them as two separate but souped up agencies. But Kelly has not yet accepted her officials’ recommendation that the two agencies should be merged.
She said “I have asked officials to carry out further work on options for reform, from strengthening the existing organisations, to the creation of a new national agency. As part of that, I want to give rigorous consideration to how best housing and regeneration functions that currently sit within DCLG, fit into the delivery chain, to ensure that we are making the best use of our skills, assets and investment.”
The DCLG is due to make a further announcement on the review in the autumn.
