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MPs have criticised the government for causing delays in the introduction of the controversial Hips scheme.

A select committee inquiry has blamed 鈥減oor preparation鈥� by the Department for Communities and Local Government for the fiasco surrounding the introduction of Hips. The committee said that the delay to the introduction was taken on political rather than economic grounds.

Hips were meant to be introduced in full in June, but instead the scheme was rolled out in phases, only being completed in December.

The government had blamed a lack of qualified home inspectors and 鈥渃onditions in the housing and mortgage market generally鈥� for the troubled introduction. But the select committee鈥檚 report said that this was the fault of the government, claiming people were reluctant to pay out for training 鈥渇or jobs the government would not guarantee would exist.鈥�

The report said: 鈥淭here were not enough inspectors because the CLG first watered down and then repeatedly delayed the introduction of Hips.鈥� It also criticised housing minister Yvette Cooper for being 鈥渞epeatedly unclear鈥� about what market conditions had contributed to the delay.

Shadow housing minister Grant Schaps said: 鈥淎t a time when the housing market needs certainty and stability Labour provided chaos and confusion. Yvette Cooper should release the results of the HIPs鈥� trials, apologise to hard pressed home owners, and scrap this hated policy. The market doesn't need HIPs, the industry doesn't want them and consumers don't care about them鈥�.

He also repeated Tory calls for Hips to be scrapped. 鈥淟abour should perform one of their trademark climbdowns and axe a policy which is increasingly strangling a struggling housing market," he said.