Minister of State for Housing and Planning (): I am today announcing that
the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities is
undertaking a routine Public Body Review of Homes England.
Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) play an important role in delivering
government policy. There are nearly 300 ALBs, employing around
300,000 people and they account for more than £220 billion of
public spending. As required by the Cabinet Office’s Public
Bodies Review Programme, government departments are reviewing the
ALBs they sponsor. The Public Bodies Review Programme helps
deliver the commitments made in the Declaration on Government
Reform to increase both the effectiveness of Public Bodies and
their departmental sponsorship - making Government work better in
service of the public. The reviews enable us to assess ALB
performance and whether they are focussed on the right objectives
and spending taxpayers’ money efficiently.
As one of Government’s largest ALBs, Homes England, has been
identified for review in the first year of the Cabinet Office’s
Public Bodies Review programme. Homes England is the Government’s
housing and regeneration agency and is the largest ALB of the
Department. It was established as a Non-Departmental Public Body
in the Homes and Communities Act 2008 and Homes England are
responsible for delivering affordable, quality homes in
well-designed places across England. The agency was last reviewed
in 2016 (as the Homes and Communities agency) under Government’s
previous 2015 - 2020 Tailored Review Programme and has not been
formally reviewed since.
Following a number of focused internal reviews in recent years
and an in-depth self-assessment, the Department has agreed with
the Cabinet Office to commence a full-scale review of Homes
England. Public Body Reviews are underpinned by broad minimum
requirements covering efficiency, efficacy, accountability and
governance. This review will follow guidance published in April
2022 by the Cabinet Office: ‘Guidance on the undertaking of
Reviews of Public Bodies’, and will specifically focus on the
function and form of the agency, outcomes for stakeholders and
customers, the operational model, compliance, and the framework
in which the agency operates.
Tony Poulter has been appointed as the independent Lead Reviewer.
Tony is a non-executive member of the Department for Transport
Board and was previously a partner at PriceWaterhouse Cooper from
1990 - 2016. He was chosen to lead this review due to his
expertise in finance and previous leadership roles across the
private and public sector. He will work with a Review Team
composed of officials from the Department and secondees. In
conducting the review, officials will engage with a broad range
of stakeholders across the UK from the housing sector and beyond.
As set out by the Cabinet Office guidance, the review will report
to the Government, and the Government will publish the
conclusions of the review alongside any Departmental response in
due course.
