Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches being tested by local authorities to tackle long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.

Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.

Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to mitigate the risk of funding from the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund being concentrated among larger organisations with greater bidding capacity.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The risk of funding being concentrated among larger organisations is mitigated through the design of the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, as set out in the prospectus. Eligibility for the Fund is restricted to voluntary, community and faith sector organisations with a maximum annual income of £5 million. This limits access to small and medium sized organisations and excludes larger organisations.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what frameworks and oversight mechanisms will be used to allocate the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to help reduce long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.

Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.

Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 1 April (HL15919), whether the National Planning Policy Framework contains strong protections for the setting of the Stonehenge World Heritage site from vans, buses and travellers' vehicles in the skyline beyond the site.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The National Planning Policy Framework provides strong protections for World Heritage Sites and their settings including where any development relating to vehicles, for example, car parks or roads, is proposed.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 16 March (HL Deb col 728), which stakeholders they consulted.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what progress has been made to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We are taking action now to meet our target to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament. This includes providing record levels of funding with £3.6 billion for homelessness prevention and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29. Councils will have more freedom and flexibility than ever before on how they use their funding.

We are also investing £15 million in our Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme to enable councils with the greatest pressures to deliver more personalised and comprehensive support for people with complex needs. We are supporting people into stable housing by investing £124 million in supported housing services and providing £37 million to our key partners working in the voluntary, community and faith sector to support recovery from homelessness.

The latest data shows that 3,175 people estimated to be sleeping rough over the month in December 2025 had been sleeping rough long-term.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what frameworks and oversight mechanisms will be used to allocate the £37 million intended for voluntary, community and faith organisations to help to reduce long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The £37 million for voluntary, community and faith organisations (VCFS) will be allocated through a national grant programme (the Ending Homelessness and Communities Fund), via a competitive application process, as set out within the prospectus.

Found: Letter from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing

Found: was made by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Found: Letter dated 10/04/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Baroness Pidgeon regarding the English Devolution