Back to the 3 day week

I know that Parliament has only been sitting for three days this week, but they've been quite busy days for me. We've reached the stage in the Parliamentary cycle where we have more votes - as Bills reach the Report and Third Reading stages we get to the point where we really take issue with parts of the proposed legislation and feel it necessary to "test the opinion of the House" as we so genteelly put it. Once that happens, the place springs into life, and we have 8 minutes to get into the Chamber, which can be tricky for those of us who have offices in the more far flung parts of the Parliamentary estate, and cast our vote "Content" or "Not Content".

I've had to come in on two questions this week, one on domestic energy conservation and one on housing for elderly people.

Recent studies have shown that the private rented sector is the most poorly performing part of the market when it comes to housing conditions and I really doubt that it represents the ideal solution for frail elderly people. Quite how any Government could ever monitor and regulate a sector dominated by thousands of individual private landlords I don't know, but I welcome the Minister's assurance that they are looking at the private rented sector in its entirety. Just occasionally, something useful emerges from these endless reviews and I hope this might be one of them.