Social Rented Housing

Grant Shapps
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 79W, on the Tenant Services Authority, (1) how many people attended each regional National Conversation event for tenants;

(2) how many invitations were sent for each National Conversation event for landlords; and how many people attended each event.

Mr. Iain Wright
The primary objective of the TSA is championing the needs and aspirations of tenants, developing a genuinely tenant focused regulatory regime. From January to March 2009, the TSA used a number of techniques to find out what tenants thought about their landlords and their services.

This was called the National Conversation and consisted of regional events organised by the TSA; ‘local conversations’ organised by tenants/landlords; a campervan that captured tenants’ views by video clip; questionnaires; and online forums.

Invitations were not disseminated by region. Peter Marsh, TSA chief executive, wrote to all landlords (with stock holdings of more than 250 units) inviting them to participate in the regional National Conversation events. The total number of letters sent was 1,144.

With regards to the number of attendees, I refer the hon. Member to the reply by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing (Margaret Beckett) to my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, South (Margaret Moran) on 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 79W.