Law firm Morgan Cole has recruited public sector and social housing specialist William Downing to its employment team.
Downing’s experience is in contentious and non-contentious employment law, particularly within the social housing sector. He has also advised several public sector organisations.
He has over 13 years’ experience in employment law, having joined from Manches in 2005, where he built up the employment practice in Oxford.
Michael Prior, practice area leader for Morgan Cole says: “William is another high-profile recruitment for our employment practice.”

Three quarters of residents in deprived communities improved under the New Deal for Communities programme are satisfied with their area, the government has announced.
The government has published a 142-page report Interventions in Housing and the Physical Environment in Deprived Neighbourhoods about its New Deal for Communities programme. It said 74% of residents living in 39 areas targeted under the NDC were satisfied with their area, up from 61% in 2002.
Just under 19,800 homes have been improved under the NDC since 2002, as well as community buildings and medical centres.
Rosie Winterton, …

The Dunfermline building society has appointed Alistair Berwick to lead its social housing arm.
Berwick will work with colleagues at parent company Nationwide Group to build on existing relationships, as well as looking at new key partners in Scotland. He joins from Tribal, where he worked as a treasury consultant.
Mark Webster, Head of Housing Finance at Nationwide said: “Alistair brings a huge amount of experience of housing association funding and knowledge about the sector to the Dunfermline which he has acquired in over 15 years in his various roles.
“I am sure …

Barclays has provided £100m in debt finance to Waterloo Housing Group to support the company in its goal of building 3,000 affordable homes by the end of 2013.
Today, the bank has revealed that it provided the £100m for the company to build 3,000 homes for low income families in the Midlands. Waterloo Housing Group formed 15 months ago after the merger of Eastern Shires Housing Group and Waterloo Housing Association.
Waterloo Housing Group owns 17,500 homes, mainly in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and the West Midlands.
The deal will provide three years’ funding for …

The National Audit Office (NAO) has attacked the government’s management of its Decent Homes Programme by saying it would miss its target to make all social housing ”decent’ this year.
A 39-page report published today by the NAO, titled The Decent Homes Programme, shows that 86% of social homes are now classed as ‘decent’ accommodation under the scheme. It said that the Department for Communities and Local Government would fail to hit the target of 100% by the end of 2010.
Edward Leigh, chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts and Conservative …

What it is: The Decent Homes Programme is a strategy brought in at the beginning of the decade to raise the standards of all social housing in the UK through the Department for Communities and Local Government. This is report by the National Audit Office (NAO) to evaluate its success.
When it came out: 21 January 2009
Why it is important: The NAO, the body that audits government, has produced this report to review progress of Decent Homes and assess whether value for money is being delivered. It shows that although over …