A view from the Lords, with LORD GREAVES. . .

PARLIAMENT is back this week, but only for a fortnight. Until last year the "summer" recess used to last until after the party conferences had finished in October.

People rightly complained that MPs were not doing their job properly, holding the government to account and such like, over such a long break.

I'm not sure people worried too much about whether their Lordships were away, even though we arguably do a better job than MPs in some areas!

Anyway, everyone now goes back to Westminster for a couple of weeks in September, only to break up again for another three weeks for what they now call the "conference recess".

First for us Liberal Democrats, then for Labour and finally the Tories in the time-honoured sequence.

The next few weeks in the Lords will see the new Housing Bill plod slowly through its committee stage. I don't always have too much praise for the present Labour government but this bill may turn out to be an exception!

There's a lot in it which - if it works and if the government provides councils with the money to implement it properly - really could help to improve housing conditions in areas like East Lancashire.

Assessments of the standard of housing will be much more flexible than the present "fit or unfit" system. And councils will have a wider range of tools they can use to get housing up to standard, including new "improvement notices" to make owners tackle defects.

There will also be schemes for the compulsory licensing and management of private landlords which will probably be used in areas of cheap houses in East Lancs.

These new schemes are intended to tackle problems caused by both careless landlords and anti-social tenants. If they are successful they could make a real difference to many parts of our local towns.

There's much more in this new legislation. As always, the House of Lords will discuss the Bill carefully, clause by clause and even line by line, trying to tease out how it will work and where amendments and improvements are needed.

Unlike the Commons we have no guillotining of discussions. They will take as long as is needed, and every amendment tabled will be considered. It's probably what the Lords do best and the result is certainly better (or less bad?) new laws.