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30-666: Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency ( HCA ). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation , and became operational on 1 December 2008. On 17 January 2007, Ruth Kelly announced proposals to bring together

60-533: A housing association had breached its "serious detriment" threshold for harm to consumers for its home repairs against Circle 33 , due to "chronic and long standing difficulties in the delivery of the repairs service". In Scotland this function is performed by the Scottish Housing Regulator . In Wales, the function is carried out by the Welsh government. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

90-543: A small secretariat from the parent department, and any expenditure is paid for by that department. These bodies usually deliver a particular public service and are overseen by a board rather than ministers. Appointments are made by ministers following the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments . They employ their own staff and allocate their own budgets. These bodies have jurisdiction over an area of

120-772: A three-year stint, was confirmed as chair for a further two years in October 2023. Walkley stepped down as CEO in January 2021, and was succeeded by Peter Denton in August 2021. In March 2021, Homes England began a six-year, 1,800 home Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Research Commission, aiming to improve construction productivity and encourage the uptake of MMC in housing delivery. In its second five-year strategy, published in May 2023, it committed to further support for MMC initiatives. In November 2019, Homes England had invested £30M into

150-404: A year on average. It planned to "significantly increase" housing delivery across South East England and to provide "additional professional skills capacity" for councils. In August 2019, Lister stepped down as chair of Homes England to focus on a newly created role as chief strategic adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson . He was succeeded as chairman by Peter Freeman in October 2020, and, after

180-609: Is responsible for their costs and has to note all expenses. NDPB differ from executive agencies as they are not created to carry out ministerial orders or policy, instead they are more or less self-determining and enjoy greater independence. They are also not directly part of government like a non-ministerial government department being at a remove from both ministers and any elected assembly or parliament. Typically an NDPB would be established under statute and be accountable to Parliament rather than to His Majesty's Government . This arrangement allows more financial independence since

210-652: Is to be measured and over what timescale". In late March 2024, housing minister Lee Rowley told the Lords Committee that the government would be reviewing its MMC policies in light of the crisis in the volumetric house-building sector. He promised "a full update in late spring once we have undertaken further detailed work with the sector". In 2020, the pilot sale of microplots was compared to driveway ransoms when Homes England wrote to householders in Birmingham warning that Homes England owned microplots between

240-632: The COVID-19 pandemic for its failure, with the enterprise incurring total losses over seven years of £295M. In November 2023, Homes England loaned £15M to TopHat, another loss-making MMC housebuilder, to fund construction of a factory in Corby ; in March 2024, the factory's opening was postponed. In January 2024, following the collapse of Ilke Homes and several other MMC companies (including L&G Modular Homes and House by Urban Splash ) during 2022 and 2023,

270-557: The European System of Accounts (ESA.95). However, Statistics UK does not break out the detail for these bodies and they are consolidated into General Government (S.1311). Scottish Housing Regulator The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) ( Scottish Gaelic : Riaghladair Taigheadais na h-Alba ) is an independent Non-Ministerial Department , directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament . The body

300-669: The House of Lords Built Environment Committee highlighted that the UK Government needed to be more coherent in addressing barriers affecting adoption of MMC: "If the Government wants the sector to be a success, it needs to take a step back, acquire a better understanding of how it works and the help that it needs, set achievable goals and develop a coherent strategy." Millions of pounds of public money had been invested, but "Homes England has not given any clear metrics as to how success

330-665: The Ilke Homes modular homes business; it invested a further £30M in September 2021. Despite a further fund-raising round, raising £100M in December 2022, Ilke Homes went into administration on 30 June 2023, with most of the company's 1,150 staff made redundant, and creditors owed £320M, including £68M owed to Homes England. Eventually, Homes England would get back just £5M of its 2019 loan to company. L&G Modular Homes halted production in May 2023, blaming planning delays and

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360-693: The Tenant Services Authority (TSA). The new investment body was initially announced as "Communities England", and later renamed as the Homes and Communities Agency. The chief executive for the body was announced as Bob Kerslake in December 2007. Kerslake had led the regeneration of Sheffield as chief executive of the City Council since 1997. On 17 October 2008, the Housing Minister Iain Wright announced

390-616: The law . They are coordinated by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service , an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice , and supervised by the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council , itself an NDPB sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. These bodies were formerly known as "boards of visitors" and are responsible for the state of prisons, their administration, and the treatment of prisoners. The Home Office

420-629: The Board members of the HCA including Robert Napier (chair), Kate Barker , Candy Atherton , and Shaukat Moledina (previously vice-chair of the Housing Corporation). Kerslake was appointed as a permanent secretary at the agency's parent Department for Communities and Local Government in September 2010. The HCA announced that it would appoint an interim chief executive from existing staff. Housing minister Grant Shapps announced early on that

450-555: The Labour government in office from 1997 to 2010, though the political controversy associated with NDPBs in the mid-1990s for the most part died away. In 2010 the UK's Conservative-Liberal coalition published a review of NDPBs recommending closure or merger of nearly two hundred bodies, and the transfer of others to the private sector. This process was colloquially termed the "bonfire of the quangos". NDPBs are classified under code S.13112 of

480-474: The TSA would be abolished as part of the cull of quangos by the coalition government after the 2010 general election. In June 2010, he said that the HCA would be retained but become "smaller, more strategic - with the HCA's functions being delivered under local leadership." In September 2010, the HCA was also included on a list of organisations being considered for closure. However, Shapps announced in October that

510-567: The TSA would be merged into the HCA. In November, he confirmed that the HCA would be retained, but reformed to cut running costs. The HCA's Kickstart programme provided grants to developers in order to rescue stalled projects during the Great Recession , helping to maintain employment and output of new homes. One notable Kickstart projects was a £45.6 million investment in Berkeley Homes to provide 555 new homes for rent on

540-531: The UK Government. This total included 198 executive NDPBs, 410 advisory bodies, 33 tribunals, 21 public corporations, the Bank of England , 2 public broadcasting authorities and 23 NHS bodies. However, the classification is conservative and does not include bodies that are the responsibility of devolved government , various lower tier boards (including a considerable number within the NHS), and also other boards operating in

570-638: The creation of a "public appointments commissioner" to make sure that appropriate standards were met in the appointment of members of NDPBs. The Government accepted the recommendation, and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments was established in November 1995. While in opposition, the Labour Party promised to reduce the number and power of NDPBs. The use of NDPBs continued under

600-419: The four types of NDPB (executive, advisory, tribunal, and independent monitoring boards) but excludes public corporations and public broadcasters ( BBC , Channel 4 , and S4C ). The UK Government classifies bodies into four main types. The Scottish Government also has a fifth category: NHS bodies . These bodies consist of boards which advise ministers on particular policy areas. They are often supported by

630-490: The government is obliged to provide funding to meet statutory obligations. NDPBs are sometimes referred to as quangos . However, this term originally referred to quasi-NGOs bodies that are, at least ostensibly, non-government organisations , but nonetheless perform governmental functions. The backronym "quasi-autonomous national government organization" is used in this usage which is normally pejorative. In March 2009 there were nearly 800 public bodies that were sponsored by

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660-530: The household and the public road. Homes England said it had written to 90 householders; however a freedom of information request found over 500 microplots for sale in the Redditch and Bromsgrove boroughs. Homes England said that if householders did not purchase microplots they could be sold to third parties. A third party sale was expected by homeowners to result in the microplot being used as a ransom strip . Non-departmental public body The term includes

690-794: The interests of people who receive services from them. SHR does this by assessing and reporting on; how social landlords are performing their housing services, RSLs’ financial well-being and RSLs' standards of governance and where necessary SHR will intervene to secure improvements. SHR also keeps a Register of all the RSLs in Scotland. The register holds information about each landlord including their contact details and their regulation plans. In June 2015 SHR won two awards for its IT systems in recognition of its efforts to make information available to tenants to allow them to hold their landlords to account. [1] This article related to government in Scotland

720-755: The investment functions of the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and parts of the Department for Communities and Local Government to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency. It would also incorporate the functions of the Academy for Sustainable Communities and the government's advisory team for large applications. In the following months, Martin Cave, Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at University of Warwick , led

750-620: The most comprehensive review of English housing regulation for 30 years. Reporting in June, the Cave Review recommended that a new regulator be set up, separating the regulation and investment responsibilities of the Housing Corporation. On 15 October 2007, Yvette Cooper announced that the Government accepted the recommendation of the Cave Review to transfer the Corporation's regulatory powers to an independent body, subsequently named as

780-480: The open market, located in London, the south east and south west. However, after a campaign for disclosure by Building Design magazine, the agency revealed that many Kickstart projects failed to meet CABE 's standards of good design. The HCA acted as the government's Social Housing Regulator. It provided regular reports on each registered social housing agency in England. In March 2014, it made its first ruling that

810-611: The public sector (e.g. school governors and police authorities). These appointed bodies performed a large variety of tasks, for example health trusts , or the Welsh Development Agency , and by 1992 were responsible for some 25% of all government expenditure in the UK. According to the Cabinet Office their total expenditure for the financial year 2005–06 was £167 billion. As of March 2020, there were 237 non-departmental public bodies. Critics argued that

840-683: The system was open to abuse as most NDPBs had their members directly appointed by government ministers without an election or consultation with the people. The press , critical of what was perceived as the Conservatives' complacency in power in the 1990s, presented much material interpreted as evidence of questionable government practices. This concern led to the formation of a Committee on Standards in Public Life (the Nolan Committee) which first reported in 1995 and recommended

870-549: Was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 . SHR is the successor to the previous Scottish Housing Regulator agency, which exercised Scottish Ministers ' powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 . The statutory objective of SHR is to: safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords, people who are or may become homeless, and people who use housing services provided by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and local authorities SHR regulates social landlords to protect

900-402: Was replaced by a new national housing agency, Homes England, in January 2018, with a remit to acquire land and support brownfield development to help boost housing supply. In October 2018, under chairman Sir Edward Lister and CEO Nick Walkley, it published its first five-year strategy to deliver more homes in areas of greatest need, restating the government's ambition to deliver 300,000 new homes

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