The MP questioned whether the Minister has made contact with Awaab’s family to express condolences and provide support. He also inquired about measures to ensure that local housing associations are not unduly influenced by government funding cuts.

The MP highlighted issues with social landlords providing substandard properties and sought clarity on how the Government will tackle these concerns through the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill.

The MP asked if the Government was considering a cap on social rents, including whether there would be specific provisions for vulnerable groups.

Asked about further steps to improve housing conditions, Lisa Nandy highlighted the issues with unfit homes in both social and private rented sectors. She also questioned whether the decent homes standard would be brought into law soon without delay, along with funding for local authorities and commitments on retrofitting older social housing stock. Additionally, she raised concerns about racial discrimination in handling tenant complaints and requested a review of how refugees are provided housing.

Asked about the number of substandard social housing homes, John Redwood wanted a clearer estimate on how many are below standard.

There is no doubt that the death of Awaab was tragic, but it was also preventable and unforgivable. Does classifying mould as a category 1 hazard under the decent homes standard include any guarantee? Will the Secretary of State ensure that local authorities have sufficient resources to enforce housing standards?

Does the Secretary of State agree with conducting a full root-and-branch investigation into Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, given the severe health issues faced by constituents due to poor housing conditions? What is his stance on the responsibility and accountability of senior management earning over £157,000?

May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s aims? The Select Committee report on the Regulation of Social Housing identified unfit housing, repair reporting issues, complaints handling problems and a lack of proactive inspection. Will we work together to secure funding for these objectives?

Will the Secretary of State assure me that he will take action to improve housing quality for both private and social tenants?

What guarantee can he give today that there will be concerted action instead of performative activity from landlords and housing associations?

Will my right hon. Friend look closely at appropriate amendments to the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill to ensure this tragedy leads to a sea change?

What support will be given to local councils wanting to address the availability and quality of social housing?

The standard of housing in the social housing sector has been shown to suffer from ongoing issues across the UK, including inefficient repairs and maintenance contracts. Does the Secretary of State need to improve the regulatory enforcement framework urgently? Does the ombudsman need more resources?

My office receives upwards of 40 cases a year from constituents who are worried sick about persistent mould and damp in their social housing. Is the Secretary of State satisfied that there is sufficient investment in enforcement, and sufficient legal help available to hold housing providers accountable?

Will the Secretary of State send a clear message that lifestyle is not an acceptable default position when damp and mould issues arise? Will any measures address the issue across all sectors?

The Government have an urgent duty to do better so that more tragedies such as this do not happen. Will the Secretary of State acknowledge the cuts over the last 12 years to our local councils which have borne human consequences?

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we are to prevent another death such as Awaab’s, the responsibility must stop with chief executives of housing providers? Can they be fined or even face legal cases and, in acute cases, corporate manslaughter charges?

Will the Secretary of State commit to a timetable for bringing forward work in the Green Paper on private rented sector and tell us the timescale for it? In that work, will there be a basic standard for ventilation?

What does my right hon. Friend think could be done on private rented accommodation? In his constituency, quite a large number of people rent from private providers who may not be aware of what their rights are and what the standards should be.

Will the Secretary of State acknowledge that an overall chronic shortage of social housing is contributing to the problem? Will he commit to allowing councils and housing associations to keep 100% of proceeds from homes sold under the right to buy scheme?

Will the Secretary of State consider putting a time limit on the period in which housing providers must fix a problem from when it is first raised? This would concentrate the mind and ensure that problems are not left unresolved.

The Secretary of State will be aware that the family first raised the issue a year before their little boy died. That, in my view, points to the extreme culpability of the Rochdale Boroughwide housing association. It is my view not that its head should be fined but that, if he had any conscience, he would resign. Tens of thousands of people up and down the country are in properties that are riddled with damp and mould. I have the issue myself in Hackney, and one estate, Evelyn Court, is campaigning to try to get its landlord to do something about it. It is difficult to imagine anything sadder than watching your child literally cough to death because people who were supposed to act did not. The family are of the opinion that they were treated in this way because they were migrants and because they were black. We all know all sorts of tenants have this issue, but does the Secretary of State agree that some of us believe these tenants were treated like this because they were black?

Let this be the point where no one is ever told again, “Open your windows and the problem will be solved.” May I caution the Secretary of State against relying solely on the housing ombudsman as the best mechanism for our constituents to seek redress? RSLs such as Clarion and London and Quadrant have, when doing repairs, left residents in hotels miles away from where they live. Residents are getting heavily into debt and languishing because the RSLs are not doing the repairs properly. Residents do not have the weeks and months it takes to secure redress. The companies will use their insurance policies to cover the cost of doing the repairs on those properties. Will he give tenants a right to access that money, so we can concentrate the minds of those social landlords to treat those people with the dignity they deserve?

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement on this awful tragedy and for the way he made it. I hope this will lead to a step change in attitudes and policy towards the housing needs of people across the whole country. I totally agree with him when he says that everyone should have a decent, safe, secure, dry, warm place to live in—absolutely right. It is not happening in my constituency, or in many others, where I come across people living in overcrowded accommodation with damp and all the other issues that go with it. In the now very large private rented sector, tenants are often afraid to complain—they fear eviction if they complain—they have no certainty of a long-term residence. We need tough legislation on the private rented sector, we need more council housing built and we need an attitude from public health inspectors that goes down like a tonne of bricks on any landlord, whoever they are, who fails in their duties to maintain a safe, dry, warm and clean environment.

Our thoughts are absolutely with the family. May I draw the Secretary of State’s attention to social housing providers? In my constituency, one has raised concerns about the 14% rise in maintenance costs in the last year, a cost that has not been recognised in the Government’s consultation on rent caps. I think he might have alluded to some future compromise, but could he give us some assurance that the Government will consider the rise in maintenance costs at this time when they are looking at future rents?

Like every other Member here, I get weekly concerns from constituents about mould in properties. Sometimes we are able to help them and we get there. It takes a long time and unfortunately problems often come back. Sometimes people come to see me who I helped when I was a councillor almost a decade ago and the problems have re-emerged, so there is something far deeper going on here—it is not just about trying to put these things right. The issue is across the whole sector. Every housing association in my constituency has these problems. There are issues of capacity, funding and accountability. I do not think these associations are accountable to the communities they represent. Can the Secretary of State say something about what he can do about that?

The death of Awaab Ishak was a tragedy that shone a light on the issues in the sector. A family in my constituency contacted me as they had been living in temporary accommodation for more than four years. The property was absolutely full of mould; when it was inspected, it was so bad that there were mushrooms growing in the bathroom. It was ridiculous. The Government’s consultation on the decent homes standard has closed. Will the Secretary of State commit to bringing in new legally enforceable standards to ensure that everyone has a decent place to live? How will that be monitored?

Last month, a 52-year-old gentleman contacted me, crying down the phone. He said that, in his previous accommodation, he had developed breathing problems due to the damp, rot and mould in that home, that there was no heating in his present home and that he was worried and scared. What will the Secretary of State’s Department do to invest in social housing, enforce capacity and provide legal aid to help to end this scandal once and for all?

When the Government backed my Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, I knew that the law would not be enough. That will prove to be the case again. We have heard about enforcement against social landlords and against private landlords—who are twice as bad—as well as commissioned temporary accommodation and exempt accommodation, which is often the worst. We know that we need more enforcement capacity. Will the Minister and the Government commission a study of local authorities’ enforcement capacity—particularly the use of environmental health officers—to enable councils to identify the problems in accommodation? Will he also commission a study of the use of the legal powers already available to local authorities, which varies so much between providers? Will that inform the urgent introduction of further legislation to protect renters?

Like many hon. Members, I find that by far the biggest issue that constituents raise with me is housing, including the appalling standards in social and private rented sectors. Leicester City Council is introducing a licensing scheme to crack down on rogue landlords but needs more powers and faster implementation. May I press the Secretary of State on what he will do on those issues specifically: finding the landlords, having the right powers and implementing those powers swiftly?

The Government spend more on housing benefit than on policing and transport combined, with £20 billion of public money going towards substandard private rented accommodation. Will the Secretary of State accept the invitation from the housing ombudsman to extend its remit to the private rented sector?

My hon. Friend mentioned supported exempt accommodation, with the House debating the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill next Friday. In Birmingham, there have been deaths in dreadful and unregulated supported exempt accommodation. Will the Secretary of State agree to put some regulation in place? Will he follow every recommendation of the Select Committee’s report?

While waiting for improvements in regulation and resourcing of social landlords, tenants rely on legal aid solicitors and law centres to pursue disrepair claims. From next year, housing claims will be subject to fixed recoverable costs, making it unaffordable for small firms and not-for-profits to take on cases. Will the Secretary of State talk to his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice about how representation can be maintained?

The scale of the problem—damp, cold, overcrowded housing or no housing at all for constituents—needs an action plan from every housing provider with a timeline for necessary reparation. There also needs to be a deep dive into available skills to perform this reparation.

I send my deepest condolences to Awaab’s family and pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale, who has been campaigning on decent homes for years. Awaab’s family believe that racism played a significant part in how they were treated. May I ask whether he is taking that point seriously, and will commit himself to an investigation?