Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to maternity pathways with tailored support for pregnant people experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support is available to residents whose homes are lost to coastal erosion where long‑term defence is not viable.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to supporting coastal communities and ensuring coastal risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future. That is why, in January, we announced the £30 million Coastal Adaptation Pilots. Up to £18 million of this will be shared across projects in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk supporting advanced adaptation work, including selective property purchases and long-term financing solutions. The Environment Agency will continue to work closely with Great Yarmouth Borough Council to prepare for delivery from Winter 2026.
A Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant of £6,000 per property is also available for local authorities to support the prompt and safe demolition of homes at greatest risk of loss from erosion. In exceptional circumstances, supported by strong evidence, a local authority may make a case for a higher level of grant support.
In addition, local authorities are responsible for providing homelessness assistance and temporary accommodation in some circumstances.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support pregnant women living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out tangible actions and targets for delivery in this Parliament, which will act as milestones on the way to achieving our long-term vision to end homelessness and rough sleeping. We are providing over £3.6 billion in funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, which will help local areas deliver tailored solutions to tackle all forms of homelessness.
The law is clear that B&B accommodation is never suitable for pregnant women except for very short-term emergencies. The Homelessness Code of Guidance makes clear that temporary accommodation must be suitable to the household’s needs, and kept under review. Suitability is assessed by considering all aspects of the accommodation in light of the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household.
The Government is committed to ensuring that all pregnant people, including those experiencing homelessness, can access safe, personalised and equitable maternity care. That is why the Government is also working with councils and the NHS to end the practise of mothers with newborn babies being discharged into B&Bs or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the health and wellbeing of children living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children.
The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision or disruption to their education.
This includes our commitment to eliminate the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament and improve the supply of good quality temporary accommodation.
Alongside this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide the strongest protections in a generation, making sure vulnerable children are identified and supported. We are also introducing a new temporary accommodation notification duty, to inform schools and specified health providers when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, to allow additional or different support to be provided to these children.
We will ensure families in temporary accommodation are proactively contacted by health services, and have committed to introduce a new clinical code, to improve data and improve outcomes in temporary accommodation, and end the practice of discharging newborns into Bed and Breakfast or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
We have also set out our ambition to cut school days lost for children in temporary accommodation, backed by data so that targeted support can be provided more effectively. To achieve this, there will be a stronger role for pastoral teams to work closely with families in temporary accommodation including preventing unlawful removal from a school’s roll.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is currently considering providing accommodation for asylum seekers in Great Yarmouth borough.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are the mechanism via which the Home Office works towards achieving Full Dispersal and thus, a fair and balanced distribution of asylum accommodation across all local authorities nationally.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are underpinned by an indexing model which accounts for a multitude of pressures within local authorities, including – availability of housing, levels of homelessness, availability of GP and dentists as well as levels of community cohesion. Development of the plans was informed by engagement with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders, to ensure that the evidence base was reflective of broader local authority feedback.
For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area, including those in dispersal properties. These statistics can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the value for money to the taxpayer of her Department conducting repeated site assessments for asylum accommodation on sites that do not proceed in (a) England and (b) Great Yarmouth constituency.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home office undertakes routine assurance checks before committing to any accommodation particularly any large sites learning lessons from the past. Cost of these checks will be relatively modest but essential particularly in ruling out unsuitable options.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are the mechanism via which the Home Office works towards achieving Full Dispersal and thus, a fair and balanced distribution of asylum accommodation across all local authorities nationally.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are underpinned by an indexing model which accounts for a multitude of pressures within local authorities, including – availability of housing, levels of homelessness, availability of GP and dentists as well as levels of community cohesion. Development of the plans was informed by engagement with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders, to ensure that the evidence base was reflective of broader local authority feedback.
For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.
The Home Office publishes all available information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what expenditure has been incurred by her Department on assessments of asylum accommodation sites in Great Yarmouth that did not proceed.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home office undertakes routine assurance checks before committing to any accommodation particularly any large sites learning lessons from the past. Cost of these checks will be relatively modest but essential particularly in ruling out unsuitable options.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are the mechanism via which the Home Office works towards achieving Full Dispersal and thus, a fair and balanced distribution of asylum accommodation across all local authorities nationally.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are underpinned by an indexing model which accounts for a multitude of pressures within local authorities, including – availability of housing, levels of homelessness, availability of GP and dentists as well as levels of community cohesion. Development of the plans was informed by engagement with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders, to ensure that the evidence base was reflective of broader local authority feedback.
For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.
The Home Office publishes all available information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support homeowners whose properties are uninhabitable due to fire damage, including through council tax exemptions.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is no specific council tax exemption for properties which have been damaged by fire. However, where a property is uninhabitable due to damage it may be removed from the council tax list. No one will be liable for council tax for the property whilst it is removed from the list. It is for the Valuation Office Agency to determine whether a property is uninhabitable for council tax purposes. The government has no plans to change this policy.
Where households are homeless or at risk of homelessness, they should reach out to their local council for advice and support.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the impact of reforms to Personal Independence Payments on levels of homelessness will be included as part of the Timms Review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The steering group has established its ways of working, themes for the Review and has launched a Call for Evidence. It will continue to meet regularly over the course of this year to determine the Review's strategic direction, priorities and its recommendations. The Terms of Reference give the group a broad remit to set out its strategic direction, priorities and workplan.
Asked by: Lord Babudu (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given that statistics published in February 2026 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that 175,990 children were living in temporary accommodation in England in September 2025, what assessment they have made of the impact of temporary accommodation conditions on children's health outcomes and healthy life expectancy, and what steps they are taking to reduce the length of time children spend in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children.
The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision.
These include our commitment to eliminating the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament, introducing a clinical code to improve data and prevent incidents in temporary accommodation, ending the practice of discharging newborns into B&B or other unsuitable shared accommodation, and providing proactive outreach to families in temporary accommodation.
We are tackling the root causes of homelessness building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes. We have set out a new 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme backed by a £39 billion investment.
We are providing over £3.6 billion in funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, which will help local areas deliver tailored solutions to tackle all forms of homelessness.