Chair of CLG Committee 'Very Concerned' About Help to Buy

Clive Betts says he is ‘very concerned’ by the findings of a National Audit Office report about the government’s help to buy equity loan scheme.  Mr Betts, who is chair of the CLG committee, said Eric Pickles’s department appeared to have embarked on the scheme with ‘little assessment’ of the costs and risks involved. Following publication of the NAO’s probe into help to buy, Mr Betts said he was ‘struggling to square’ information provided by the department previously with the fresh findings of the NAO.  The report called for more clarity from the department on how many buyers using the scheme wouldn’t have bought a home otherwise, as well as an assessment of what level of new supply had been created by the scheme. In terms of value for money, the report said it was unclear at this stage what the cost to the taxpayer would be of the £3.7 billion investment in the property market. Download a copy of the report from the NAO website.