Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed supported housing funding model on the (a) level of funding to and (b) viability of women's refuges.

In his Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons on 15th September 2016 the Secretary of State confirmed that from 2019/20 we will bring in a new funding model that will ensure that the supported housing sector continues to be funded at current levels, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social rents.

We are confident that this model will meet the needs of the sector but we recognise that there will be some particular challenges that may remain for very short term accommodation such as that which can be offered by women’s refuges. We are continuing to work with the sector to develop an appropriate funding mechanism for providers of short term accommodation.

A DWP/DCLG twelve week consultation on supported housing ended on 13 February. We are analysing the responses and we and DCLG aim to jointly publish a Green Paper in the Spring.