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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the £25 million of funding recently announced by his Department to tackle rough sleeping will be allocated to Barnsley.

Barnsley did not bid for our Rapid Rehousing Pathway fund and has therefore not been allocated any funding through this process.

However Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have been jointly funded and provisionally allocated £328,038 though our Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) for 2019/20. This funding will provide essential local services such as enhanced outreach provision, additional prevention workers, mental health practitioners and a rough sleeping co-coordinator.

The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.

As part of this, in its first year, our Rough Sleeping Initiative provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff. This year we have expanded the RSI with investment of £46 million for 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 2,600 bed spaces and 750 staff. We are determined to work with all local authorities who are driven to reducing the number of those sleeping rough.