Picture the scene. It’s the day after the General Election in Marsham Street. New girl Angela is being shown around her office…
“Secretary of State, it is just so nice to finally meet you. I'm your Permanent Secretary and I'm here at your command to help you deliver the new Government's policies. This is your office and if you have any questions, then please feel free to ask me.”
“Permanent Secretary, what are those things over there on the far side of my new office? They look like old fashioned railway signal box levers.”
“Ah, Secretary of State. Those are your four ‘levers of office’. Let me explain them to you.
“The first lever controls planning reform. The drawback to this lever is you can yank it around for years and it doesn't deliver very much. And of course everyone shouts at you while you pull it. Every Secretary of State likes to pull it initially but after a while they just can't take the noise any longer.
“The second controls housing delivery. Unfortunately, when you pull on this one it's connected to 317 planning authorities most of whom don't want any housing, so it's not very effective.
“The third one controls affordable housing. When you pull this lever, tonnes of cash hurls itself at housing associations. The drawback here is that in the old days ‘tonnes of cash’ was quite a lot of money. These days, as the Treasury has redefined the rules, ‘tonnes of cash’ isn't enough to get any of the chief executives in any of the G15 top housing associations out of bed. So that doesn’t really work either.
“Which leaves you with the fourth lever, Secretary of State. I think this one will interest you the most because it's about the only one that really works. This one controls your own interventionism. Each time you pull on it you deliver another recovered appeal or call in decision. It’s quite fun. Have a go, Secretary of State.”
And this, dear readers, will neatly sum up the next few years.
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