Mr. Bob Jordan:

Regarding dereliction and vacancy, we are collaborating with the Heritage Council and local authorities to do surveys of town centres. Under the town centre first policy, every local authority will have a vacant homes officer by mid-year. There will be town regeneration officers and we will work with them to identify properties that can be brought into use. We need to match those properties, perhaps with the input of approved housing bodies, and take a direct role in that. One aspect of the Housing Agency that I like is that even though we are involved in supporting policy development and programmes, we have an in-house technical team of engineers, quantity surveyors, architects and so on. They are often the people who take a look at these buildings that perhaps nobody else wants to take a look at, including local authorities, and assess the potential of those properties. We can play a hands-on role in addressing dereliction and vacancy under the town centre first policy.