It has always been something of a paradox to me that the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), a Labour-created big spending national body, survived the ‘bonfire of the quango’s’ under the Coalition Government during the austerity period, whereas the Audit Commission, a body whose main role was to appoint auditors, set the standards for their work, and promote best value, did not.

I think a good part of the explanation for this was the work the HCA did to build strong relationships with its key partners in housing and local government. Of course, it helped that we were almost the only source of funding for development to a beleaguered sector following the financial crash in 2008. However one sceptical Department for Communities and Local Government minister at the time was overhead to say ‘Well they must be doing something right as everyone tells me they are’.