Government ministers are facing tough battles with Scotland's powerful new housing committee over forthcoming housing policies and plans to reform housing benefit
Members of the social inclusion, voluntary sector and housing committee this week plainly set out their ambitions by resolving to hold both parliaments at Westminster and Holyrood to task - to the point of usurping political authority from ministers and other committees.

The committee agreed to quiz the Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling and housing cabinet minister Wendy Alexander over their plans for the next six months.

The MSPs decided that taking such an aggressive stance was essential in order to effectively tackle cross-cutting housing issues.

Convener Margaret Curran pledged to request an early meeting with Alexander.

The Labour MSP said: "We want the committee to speak to the ministers and the departments to ensure that they set up both a programme of information for us and an opportunity to question the executive."

"It is for us to discuss the ways in which we can inform ourselves about the work of the executive, scrutinise it and comment on it. I understand that ministers will make themselves available to us whenever we need them."

Officials are now to brief the committee over the next six months on the Scottish executive's housing policy developments, particularly over stock transfers, as well as Darling's housing benefit reforms.

The committee will also meet with Darling to see how his reforms will feed in to Scotland's anti-poverty strategy.

SNP policy convener Lloyd Quinan added that convincing other committees of the importance of housing and anti-poverty work would mean "some people have to put their egos in the bottom drawer for a while."

"If we are going to talk about a national anti-poverty strategy let us be clear about what it really means: it means effectively taking elements of power away from the Executive, committees and departments," Quinan insisted. "That is the only way that the policy will work."

But Labour MSP John McAllion warned: "We should be careful about building our own little empire that takes over the Scottish Parliament. We can work together with other committees, rather than taking power away from them."

Source

Housing Today