Asked by: Simon Baynes (Conservative - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support the safe reopening of high streets as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Through our Safer Urban Centres Guidance, the Government has set out how our high streets can be made COVID secure through social distancing. Building on this, our £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSSF) is providing councils with additional funding to support their business communities and local economies with measures that enable safe trading in public places. This funding is playing a key role in getting people back to work, supporting businesses and helping to reinvigorate our communities, safely kick starting the economy as lockdown eases.
Asked by: Simon Baynes (Conservative - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made in finding accommodation for rough sleepers in North Wales during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Housing and sourcing accommodation for rough sleepers in Wales is a devolved matter.
In England, almost 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation, including hotels, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to returns from local authorities. This includes people coming in directly from the streets, people previously housed in shared night shelters and people who have become vulnerable to rough sleeping during the pandemic.
Asked by: Simon Baynes (Conservative - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to help local authorities in North Wales experiencing a reduction in income during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Local government is a devolved matter, and therefore MHCLG do not engage directly with Welsh councils.
Asked by: Simon Baynes (Conservative - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken provide food and support to people identified by the NHS as the most vulnerable in society.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 22 March, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government asked clinically extremely vulnerable individuals to shield and announced steps to support them to stay at home.
To support these individuals, we are working closely with local authorities, the food industry, local resilience and emergency partners, and voluntary groups to ensure these individuals have both support and access to essential items such as groceries and medicines through deliveries and priority supermarket delivery slots, if they do not have alternative means of accessing these.
The system to deliver food packages is now up and running and capacity is building in line with current demand.