Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, has replaced Don Foster as Under-Secretary at the Department of Communities and Local Government in the latest government reshuffle. As might be expected, empty homes is shown as one of his five areas of responsibility.
Don Foster, who spoke at our National Conference in May this year, has moved on to the role of Lib-Dem Chief Whip. Don made a strong impression at our Conference as someone with an authentic commitment to the empty homes issue. We wish him well.
We look forward to building a working relationship with Stephen Wiliams. Williams had a 6-year caereer in local politics between 1993 and 1999 - initially as a member for Avon County Council and subsequenlty as a member for Bristol City Council including a stint as Leader of the Bristol Liberal Democrat Group.
Elected as an MP in 2005, he has served on the Public Accounts Committee and the Education and Skills Select Committee. He was responsible for a Private Members Bill, defeated by a narrow margin, to lower the voting age to 16. He does not seem to have developed a track record on housing or regeneration issues to date.
For more details about Stephen Williams refer to his website here.
Given Bristol's high profile and award-winnng empty homes initiative - now operating under the No Use Empty branding along with 3 adjacent West of England authorities - we can hope that the grass-roots practitioner perspective might start to have more influence at national level via local connections.
Housing Minister
Mark Prisk is being replaced as Housing Minister although at the time of writing his replacement has not been announced. Under the headline "Confusion reigns over new housing minister" Inside Housing reports on the possibility that the role will go to Kris Hopkins, Conservative MP for Keighley. In a strange development, the story also quotes a vitriolic tweet about Hopkins from another Conservaitve MP: Nadine Dorries is reported to have said: ‘Very sad to see Kris Hopkins promoted. One of parliaments slimiest, nastiest MPs. Really. Awful. Decision." Nice.
Part of the confusion seems to stem from the fact that Hopkins was described as being appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DCLG. This would imply a down-grading of the role of Housing Minister were this to be the case.
Prisk kept a relatively low profile as Housing Minister (another recent Indside Housing story was headlined "The Invisible Mr. Prisk"). To be fair, most key initiatives were already underway at the time he assumed office or - like Help to Buy - were driven by high-level political and economic considerations: he may not have had a great deal of scope to stamp his authority on the housing agenda. He does not seem to have had any discernible impact on the empty homes agenda. He is reported to be "disappointed" at standing down and is returning to the back benches.
Shadow Housing Minister
Meanwhile Ed Miliband has replaced Mark Prisk's opposite number by appointing Emma Reynolds, MP for Wolverhampton, to take over from Jack Dromey as Shadow Housing Minister. In a welcome recognition of the importance of housing, Emma Reynolds attends the Shadow Cabinet.
Whilst Emma Reynolds does not appear to have a strong track record on regeneration and housing, as a classic New Labour MP with a PPE from Oxford, we can expect her to get a handle on her portfolio quickly and there is an implication in this appointment that Labour is looking for some substantial policy developments in this area, something notably absent under her predecessor.