Everything about Home Information Packs (HIPS)

In November 2004, the Lord Rooker indicated that a compulsory dry run would take place in a local area. Has that promise now been abandoned? Will clear benchmarks and criteria be published by which we can judge the success of the dry run or will providers of the packs will simply be encouraged to give them to buyers, say they have been a tremendous success and allow the Department to proceed willy-nilly without the firm guarantee of consumer confidence that we need? If we are to have a successful dry run we need home inspectors. How many home inspectors are qualified? We know that there are only 200, because of the extensive investigative work of Valerie Elliott, the consumer affairs correspondent of The Times.

The Minister says that 4,000 home inspectors are in training. It takes only five days for someone who knows something about property to qualify. However, before Christmas 1,750 people were in training, and five months—not five days—later, only 200 have qualified. What guarantees do we have that there will be enough home inspectors and that those people will have any real background in the construction industry, surveying or any of the skills required to provide consumer confidence? Those matters go to the heart of ensuring that the housing market functions effectively.

The Minister will be aware that there is a new consensus, led by my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) and my hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne), on the need to increase housing supply and help first-time buyers. It would be a tragedy if that new consensus were disrupted by the introduction of an ill-thought-through intervention in the market. I invite the Minister to join me and the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) and the hon. Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson), who have signed my early-day motion, and to forge a new cross-party consensus to find a voluntary way forward.