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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to ensure that all investigations into deaths of homeless people involve an assessment of whether the death could have been prevented.

The death of any rough sleeper is a tragedy. That is why we said in the Rough Sleeping Strategy we are working to ensure that Safeguarding Adult Reviews are conducted when a person who sleeps rough dies or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect, whether known or suspected, and there is concern that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect the adult. We will consider how lessons learned from these reviews will inform improvements to local systems and services.

The Rough Sleeping Strategy was published on 13 August 2018. This strategy sets out our long-term vision for how all parts of Government, both centrally and at the local level, will work together to ensure that no one has to sleep rough. This vision is based around three core pillars: prevent, intervene and recover – centred on a system of rapid rehousing.