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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, of the £10 million made available by the Government for domestic abuse shelters' capacity (a) how many extra beds have been bought and (b) where those beds are located.

The MHCLG £10 million Domestic Abuse COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund was allocated to 147 successful charity bids.  Grant recipients recently reported that, up to and including 30 September, they had created an additional 1046 bedspaces with a further 343 forecast to open through the winter.

The location of domestic abuse safe accommodation services are kept confidential to protect victim safety and MHCLG did not therefore require applicants to disclose information on where beds are located. However, I can confirm that funding was awarded to domestic abuse charitable organisations across all English regions.