Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support (a) YMCA England & Wales and (b) other organisations to build additional move-on accommodation for people leaving supported housing.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We have invested over £1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year, which can be used flexibly to address a range of local needs, including support for young people. The Spending Review protects this record level of investment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping for the next three years.
For young people ready to live independently, we are delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, backed by the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. We are also reforming the private rented sector to give more security to tenants, bringing an end to rental bidding, outlawing discrimination against prospective tenants with children or those who receive social security benefits; and preventing landlords from demanding large amounts of rent in advance.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps are being taken to support young people living in supported housing to move on.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We have invested over £1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year, which can be used flexibly to address a range of local needs, including support for young people. The Spending Review protects this record level of investment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping for the next three years.
For young people ready to live independently, we are delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, backed by the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. We are also reforming the private rented sector to give more security to tenants, bringing an end to rental bidding, outlawing discrimination against prospective tenants with children or those who receive social security benefits; and preventing landlords from demanding large amounts of rent in advance.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his department has made of the potential impact of the requirement for a pre-visit notification on access to eye care for a) people experiencing homelessness and b) care home residents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile, sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests, and who would have difficulties accessing care through the high-street due to physical or mental illness, or disability, or who would have difficulties communicating their health needs unaided. As well as services being provided in residential homes, these services can also be provided in day centres.
In order to ensure people experiencing homelessness can access NHS sight tests on the high street, NHS England issued a clarification via local commissioning teams to ensure that having no fixed abode should not prevent access to NHS care. Integrated care boards can also commission enhanced eye care services, where they feel these are needed to meet local needs.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he intends to remove the requirement for a pre-visit notification (PVN) for eye care assessments for people experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile, sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests, and who would have difficulties accessing care through the high-street due to physical or mental illness, or disability, or who would have difficulties communicating their health needs unaided. As well as services being provided in residential homes, these services can also be provided in day centres.
In order to ensure people experiencing homelessness can access NHS sight tests on the high street, NHS England issued a clarification via local commissioning teams to ensure that having no fixed abode should not prevent access to NHS care. Integrated care boards can also commission enhanced eye care services, where they feel these are needed to meet local needs.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will consider a) adopting a gender-informed definition of rough sleeping and homelessness, b) providing local authorities with tools, resources, and guidance on gathering accurate and inclusive data on women’s rough sleeping and homelessness and c) providing gender-informed guidance to enable local authorities to ensure services and systems are equitable, accessible and safe for women, matched with appropriate levels of funding to do so.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that women experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping have different experiences and needs to men.
The Government introduced a new question in the Rough Sleeping Monthly Management Information to capture the gender of those sleeping rough over the course of a month, rather than on a single night.
The Government has increased funding for homelessness services by £316 million to a record total of more than £1 billion. Local authorities can use this money to respond to local need, including those of women in their area. We are considering the needs of different cohorts in our cross-Government homelessness strategy, which will be published later this year.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to align the homelessness strategy with the youth strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department is working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to ensure the Homelessness Strategy aligns with the National Youth Strategy and that young people receive the support they need as early as possible to reduce the risk of homelessness.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help tackle deaths among homeless people caused primarily by drug use.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
People dying whilst homeless is devasting and we must do all we can to prevent avoidable deaths.
The government’s £61.7 million Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment programme funds drug and alcohol treatment services to improve substance misuse and recovery outcomes, reduce the number of people sleeping rough due to substance misuse, and prevent deaths from drug and alcohol poisoning.
We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including delivering 1.5 million homes over this Parliament and the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding for a generation.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the impact of homelessness on local authorities’ resources and their capacity to meet their statutory duties.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness is too high and the Government recognises the impact this has on local authorities, including financial pressures.
We have increased funding for homelessness by £316 million this year to a total of more than £1 billion, and will publish our cross-Government homelessness strategy later this year.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to issue guidance to local authorities to aid the rollout of stepping stone housing to address homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department continues to engage with stakeholders in the homelessness sector to support the development of schemes and policies to tackle homelessness, including stepping stone accommodation.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of no-fault evictions on school stability, attendance and attainment for affected children.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department understands that insecure housing can affect a pupil’s engagement with education. Our statutory attendance guidance sets out how partners should work together to understand barriers to attendance, which includes housing support where relevant. Where a pupil is temporarily accommodated in a different local authority, the guidance is also clear that both local authorities should work together to ensure continuity of education. The statutory attendance guidance is available in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
The Renters’ Rights Act delivers our manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, including by ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions from 1 May 2026. It will give renters much greater security and stability so that they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities and avoid the risk of homelessness.