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Housing Waiting Lists

First, may I draw attention to the interests declared in my entry in the Register Of Members' Interests? Secondly, may I say what a pleasure it is to follow the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young)? I followed him, although not quite so immediately as this afternoon, in the role of Housing Minister. Both of us know, as do almost all hon. Members, just how important housing is to the lives of our constituents and how crucial an effective and good housing policy is to ensuring social well-being and economic prosperity for the country. Housing is an issue that has commanded considerable political salience throughout much of the past century, but the policies adopted at various points during that time have not always been as intelligent and far-sighted as they might have been. In the period immediately after the second world war, and for much of the following three decades, the focus was remorselessly on numbers. It was understandable why numbers were seen as important, as we were dealing with the backlog of wartime damage, dereliction and the fact that no homes at all had been built for some years. However, the danger with the remorseless focus on numbers that was very much the driver of housing policy at that time was that other issues tended to be given a lower priority. The remorseless focus on numbers displayed today by the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) will not do a service to the country if his remarks serve to draw attention away from the equally important issues of quality, sustainability and the need for appropriate mixed-tenure developments that provide a decent environment for people to live in.