Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to change legal protections for people sleeping rough in England during severe weather; and if he will make a statement.

No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why Government has committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027. We have announced a new Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce, chaired by the Housing Secretary, which will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to tackle this issue.

We have allocated over £1 billion through to 2020, following the 2015 Spending Review, to prevent and reduce all forms of homelessness. This includes £28 million announced at Budget to pilot a Housing First approach for some of the rough sleepers with the most complex needs.

Local authorities should work together with partners to provide basic emergency accommodation to minimise the risk of harm to individuals when the temperature drops.