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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that deaths of rough sleepers are recorded.

In England and Wales deaths are recorded by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, who will issue a death certificate. Registrars receive information about the cause of death from either a Qualified Attending Practitioner (who is usually the last attending GP or hospital doctor) or a Coroner, depending upon the type of death. The purpose of the death certificate is to record the cause of death. The death certificate will also record the person’s ‘usual’ address.

The Secretary of State committed in an Urgent Question on 20 December (Official report, Column 995) to raising with the Ministry of Justice what more could be done to accurately record the housing status of a deceased person on death certificates. Officials are currently taking this work forward.