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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the way in which local authorities collect data on homelessness, so as to better account for the spectrum of ways in which homelessness is manifested.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated Statutory Homelessness statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs;

• are well explained and readily accessible;

• are produced according to sound methods; and

• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

My hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins) wrote to the United Kingdom Statistics Authority on 30 January 2014 inviting further assessment of the Department’s statistics, and in response to his request the Authority has committed to assessing the Department's other statistics on homelessness covering homelessness prevention and relief, and rough sleeping.

This Government has increased spending to prevent homelessness, making over £500 million available to help the most vulnerable in society and has kept strong protections to guard families against the threat of homelessness.

Every person has the right to approach their local authority if they consider themselves homeless or at risk, and local authorities have a statutory duty to secure accommodation to all those who they decide are eligible, in priority need and not intentionally homeless, and will be counted as homeless.

Any local authority who is approached by someone they have reason to believe is homeless or threatened with homelessness must make inquiries to see whether they owe them any duty under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996. This assessment process is important in enabling housing authorities to identify the assistance which an applicant may need either to prevent them from becoming homeless or to help them to find another home. Under section 179, authorities also have a duty to ensure that advice and information about homelessness and the prevention of homelessness are available free of charge to anyone in their district.