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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will allocate ring-fenced funding to local authorities for the housing of domestic abuse survivors.

Following an announcement on 17 February, my Department has now paid £16.6 million to 75 local authority-led projects in England for the delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation, helping up to 43,000 survivors.

The Government is providing a total of £3.2 billion to local authorities to help them meet additional pressures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, such as by supporting survivors of domestic abuse into safe accommodation.