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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with social housing providers on (a) the decent homes standard and (b) the provision of furnished tenancies in social housing to reduce levels of furniture poverty.

My Department engages actively with Registered Providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants and with a range of stakeholders on issues facing residents and has engaged with groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their research on this issue.

We will be consulting this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.

People in need may be able to get support from their local authorities via the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.

The Deputy Prime Minister is also part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing on children.