Speeches by Lewin.

“We have covered a lot of ground. We have talked about resourcing and lessons learned in the first few years of the BSR coming together. I invite each of you on the panel to share any final thoughts on further change that you see as a priority so that we can all move to the situation that we want to be in, which is asse…”

“You say that the Government need to be prepared to pay. Do you think that is true of the industry as well? If the deal were that there needs to be a bigger contribution in BSR gateway fees, is that something you would countenance?”

“Morning, both. Before I go into my question, I want to come back to the stats on one element. I hugely appreciate you saying that you are going to write to the Committee, which is very welcome, but this is a timely piece of journalism. This morning, Sky said that the number of approvals had fallen from 47% to 32%. I co…”

“I would never have believed it, Chair. Just quickly though, Andy, and this is really important. You said that it is not a battle for money, in your view. Would you characterise it more as a battle for talent? Dame Judith talked about that earlier and you have just touched on it. If so, what steps are you looking to tak…”

“Thank you for being really clear on that. I have a bigger-picture question. Philip White said to the Committee, before I was a member, that he thought that the Government needed a five to 10-year strategy for investment in the building safety profession. We have talked a bit about it already this morning. What do you t…”

“Good morning. I am Andrew Lewin, MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Good morning. My substantive question is about the resource challenge and the 12-week deadline. Before we get into that, I want to come back to the 12 weeks and what progress, if any, we are making. As was referenced by a colleague this morning, a Sky News report in the last couple of hours suggests that, on the data t…”

“That was an important place to start. I want to come on to the Government’s recent commitment to hire 100 new staff to the BSR. I am interested in whether each of the panel thinks that will make a material difference. Also, beyond headcount and people, what other challenges do you see and what other things do you think…”

“T2. It remains a reality that it is possible to take a GCSE in Russian but not in Ukrainian, and I have resolved to do my part to help because I believe that a Ukrainian GCSE should be available to all. As this is a topical question, I bring some encouraging news: I have written to all the exam boards—”

“It will be, Mr Speaker, absolutely—topical and quick. AQA has reported back to me that it is very open to the idea, but it needs to see evidence that we have enough Ukraine-speaking teachers who are willing to teach the subject and to mark the papers. The good news is that, with support from parliamentary colleagues, I…”

“Fantastic, thank you. We have already touched on viability and my colleague was especially keen to get in and ask important questions. On reform to the viability guidance, two things can be true at the same time. We have had a number of developers in front of us cite inflation having a material impact on their build co…”

“I am Andrew Lewin, the MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Briefly, before I move on to my main question on viability, I have a follow-up on section 106. I was interested to hear about local authorities stepping in. As a Committee, it would be great to hear of some of those examples, because all of us sat around this table want vacant units occupied. It is a moral imperative a…”

“One follow-up issue that is close to my heart is whether you are looking at publishing indicative benchmark land values. I use an example from my own constituency in Welwyn Garden City. I am biased in terms of the appeal of the town, but we are 25 minutes from London. We have had real problems in building out around th…”

“Minister, I want to take us back briefly to completions for homes for social rent. There is an important relationship here with the changes, which I believe are welcome, to right to buy. We were talking about new builds and completions, and 180,000 a year. I am interested in the modelling you have been able to do as a …”

“Exactly, and, for me, net additions is the key metric, not just new builds, and I think that is pertinent.”

“Welwyn Hatfield stands to be a big beneficiary of the social housing warm homes plan. It won a grant of £6 million, meaning that hundreds of homes will be upgraded and retrofitted, which will see bills and emissions coming down. Our colleagues from Reform have a flair for language, and they talk about “net stupid zero”…”

“Great, thank you. I turn to the spending review. There is a commitment to £4.8 billion of funding towards financial investments to invite private investment, which is going to be overseen by Homes England, but we have heard a lot in this Committee about how the housing market has become dominated by a small number of b…”

“If you don’t mind, Chair, before I go on to my substantive question about financial investment and the spending review, I have a quick follow-up on shared ownership. Colleagues in the Select Committee may know this because I have referenced it before. I am a beneficiary of shared ownership; it is how I was able to get …”

“Andrew Lewin, Welwyn Hatfield.”