Following the 2015 General Election, the Government announced that it was seeking to extend the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations. This policy, alongside others such as the 1 per cent reduction in social rents and a 'pay to stay' model which would charge differential rents according to tenant income, was likely to have a significant impact on housing associations. We therefore wanted to explore how their work and the services they provide might change, and what the impact might be for the wider social housing sector and the provision of affordable homes. Shortly after our investigations began, a deal to implement the extended Right to Buy on a voluntary basis was reached between the National Housing Federation and the Government. We recognise that the voluntary deal is a way of delivering a key policy from the Government's Manifesto whilst maintaining the independence of housing associations. However there remains much uncertainty in the wording of the agreement, for example regarding whether associations which voted against it are bound by its terms and the extent of the discretion to decline sales. The extended Right to Buy is designed to increase home ownership and increase housing supply. We support these aspirations and the principle of giving people the opportunity to buy their own home. Despite this, we feel that there are unresolved issues and remain concerned that the Government's policies could have a detrimental effect on the provision of accessible and affordable housing across all tenures, particularly affordable rented. We are also concerned that the extended Right to Buy could hinder the provision of specialist and supported housing schemes. Maintaining and protecting the provision of affordable housing in rural areas is also an issue that we believe needs to be addressed in order to protect our rural communities. The terms of the voluntary agreement allow for portable discounts to be offered in place of certain properties, but it remains unclear how this would operate.

The right-to-buy scheme has been a key component of housing policy across the United Kingdom for thirty-five years, and while Scotland and Wales have decided to end it, in 2015 there were proposals to extend right to buy in England. But what exactly is this policy, how has it developed, and what has its impact been? Is there any evidence of wider, unintended consequences, and how might extending the policy affect future housing provisions? What alternatives are there? In this book, Alan Murie provides an authoritative account of the rise and reach of the right-to-buy policy as well as its potential future sway. Presenting up-to-date statistical data, The Right to Buy? both engages with debates about transfers to private renting and the policy's impact on public expenditure and the current housing situation, and assesses the proposals for new legislation.

How public land has been stolen from us. Much has been written about Britain's trailblazing post-1970s privatization program, but the biggest privatization of them all has until now escaped scrutiny: the privatization of land. Since Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, and hidden from the public eye, about 10 per cent of the entire British land mass, including some of its most valuable real estate, has passed from public to private hands. Forest land, defence land, health service land and above all else local authority land- for farming and school sports, for recreation and housing - has been sold off en masse. Why? How? And with what social, economic and political consequences? The New Enclosure provides the first ever study of this profoundly significant phenomenon, situating it as a centrepiece of neoliberalism in Britain and as a successor programme to the original eighteenth-century enclosures. With more public land still slated for disposal, the book identifies the stakes and asks what, if anything, can and should be done.

How did Britain’s economy become a bastion of inequality? In this landmark book, the author of The New Enclosure provides a forensic examination and sweeping critique of early-twenty-first-century capitalism. Brett Christophers styles this as ‘rentier capitalism’, in which ownership of key types of scarce assets—such as land, intellectual property, natural resources, or digital platforms—is all-important and dominated by a few unfathomably wealthy companies and individuals: rentiers. If a small elite owns today’s economy, everybody else foots the bill. Nowhere is this divergence starker, Christophers shows, than in the United Kingdom, where the prototypical ills of rentier capitalism—vast inequalities combined with entrenched economic stagnation—are on full display and have led the country inexorably to the precipice of Brexit. With profound lessons for other countries subject to rentier dominance, Christophers’ examination of the UK case is indispensable to those wanting not just to understand this insidious economic phenomenon but to overcome it. Frequently invoked but never previously analysed and illuminated in all its depth and variety, rentier capitalism is here laid bare for the first time.

Rented housing accounts for some 30 per cent of Britain's housing stock. The supply of rented housing is a crucial element of the programme of action necessary to achieve the aim of a decent home, at a price people can afford, within a sustainable community. More supply of rented housing is needed: 50,000 social rented homes need to be completed each year to meet new demand and tackle the backlog. Further significant increases in supply in the private rented sector will require large institutional investors to be attracted back to the sector. Tax and regulatory reform are the levers which will encourage such investment. Meanwhile, there are improvements to be made to the existing stock in both the private and the social rented sectors which will both improve supply and improve the experience of the tenants. The efficiencies which have been brought to the refurbishment and construction of social rented homes by the growth of housing associations, the ring-fencing of local authority landlord accounts and the introduction of ALMOs now need to be applied to the management of the existing social rented stock. Better regulation is the imperative in the private rented sector. Good foundations exist to introduce a system of accreditation devised by trade bodies and enforced by local authorities, with the ultimate oversight of the new regulator of social housing, Oftenant. The Government now needs to build on those foundations, and to add to them further financial and regulatory incentives to private landlords to manage and maintain their stock effectively. The Committee calls for the creation of mixed communities to pervade all spatial and housing policy, and for local authorities to be given the freedom, support and resources necessary to pursue this aim.

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

The Scottish Affairs Committee calls for the repeal of the Bedroom Tax. While this is being considered, the Committee calls on the Government to suspend application of the Bedroom Tax for all those tenants to whom a reasonable alternative offer cannot be made. There are not enough smaller houses available for tenants to transfer into. The lack of any alternative offers means that tenants have no choice but to go into arrears if they simply cannot afford the extra costs. Other amendments proposed for the operation of the tax include: exemptions for those disabled people who require a room to store or use equipment or aids; non application where it would be financially perverse to do so - eg where removing fixed aids and adaptations, and then reinstalling them in a smaller home, would be more expensive than the savings over two years; all children of secondary school age should be allowed a bedroom of their own to allow quiet study; all disabled children, of whatever age, should have a bedroom of their own. The Committee also calls for changes to the system of Discretionary Housing Payments, which have been designed by the Government to mitigate the worst impacts of the Bedroom Tax. There should be a standard nationwide entitlement system, across the UK as a whole, rather than the present postcode lottery. The UK and Scottish Governments should make longer term commitments to the provision of DHP payments in order to allow local authorities to plan and structure their budgets.