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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he is providing to local authorities on incorporating loneliness reduction strategies in strategic planning.

With the support of the Department of Health, the Campaign to End Loneliness developed a toolkit for Health and Wellbeing Boards to help them better understand, identify and commission interventions for the issue of loneliness in older age. This was published in 2013 and can be found here: http://campaigntoendloneliness.org/guidance/

In 2013-14, the Department of Health also added a measure of loneliness to the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework and to the updated Public Health Outcomes Framework. Local authorities can use this as guidance in identifying local needs.

There are various statutory requirements on local authorities to develop strategic planning documents. Local authorities are encouraged to make use of the best available data in developing these documents. Local authorities must also have regard to their public sector equality duty, which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

The Housing White Paper set out two ways in which the planning system will be used to deliver more suitable homes for older and disabled people:

• Paragraph 1.16 confirmed the strengthening of the National Planning Policy Framework so that local planning authorities are expected to have clear policies for addressing the housing requirements of groups with particular needs, such as elderly and disabled people; and,

• The Neighbourhood Planning Bill introduced a new statutory duty on the Secretary of State to produce guidance for local planning authorities on how their local development documents should meet the housing needs of older and disabled people. Guidance produced will place clearer expectations about planning to meet the needs of older people, including supporting the development of such homes near local services.