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Written Question
Care Leavers: Local Government
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of the support provided by local authorities for care leavers.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government. Care leavers face barriers to securing and maintaining affordable housing, which is why the department committed to delivering the actions within ‘Mission 5’ of the Care Review implementation plan to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness by 2027.

This commitment includes bringing forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, for ‘Staying Put’ to support young people for longer and for ‘Staying Close’ to be a national entitlement, recognising that young people in the general population are leaving home at older ages. The department will also bring forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to remove the local connection requirement for care leavers seeking access to social housing at the next available opportunity.

The government is providing funding for the following programmes in the current spending review period (2022/2025) to support care leavers to find suitable accommodation. This includes:

  • £99.8 million to local authorities to increase the number of care leavers that stay living with their foster families in a family home up to the age of 21 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme.
  • £53 million to increase the number of young people leaving residential care who receive practical help with move-on accommodation, including ongoing support from a keyworker, through the ‘Staying Close’ programme.
  • £3 million this and next financial year to deliver extra support for care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping.

Ofsted inspects the adequacy of the support provided by local authorities for care leavers. In January 2023, Ofsted introduced a new, separate judgement in the inspection framework for local authority children’s services, specifically assessing the experiences and progress of care leavers.

​Alongside this, a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, brings together relevant Ministers from across government to consider what more can be done to improve outcomes for care leavers and to help to achieve the five care-leavers-related ‘Missions’ as set out in the government’s children’s social care strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. This includes looking to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness.


Written Question
Care Leavers: Housing
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support care leavers to find a home when they leave local authority care.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government. Care leavers face barriers to securing and maintaining affordable housing, which is why the department committed to delivering the actions within ‘Mission 5’ of the Care Review implementation plan to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness by 2027.

This commitment includes bringing forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, for ‘Staying Put’ to support young people for longer and for ‘Staying Close’ to be a national entitlement, recognising that young people in the general population are leaving home at older ages. The department will also bring forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to remove the local connection requirement for care leavers seeking access to social housing at the next available opportunity.

The government is providing funding for the following programmes in the current spending review period (2022/2025) to support care leavers to find suitable accommodation. This includes:

  • £99.8 million to local authorities to increase the number of care leavers that stay living with their foster families in a family home up to the age of 21 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme.
  • £53 million to increase the number of young people leaving residential care who receive practical help with move-on accommodation, including ongoing support from a keyworker, through the ‘Staying Close’ programme.
  • £3 million this and next financial year to deliver extra support for care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping.

Ofsted inspects the adequacy of the support provided by local authorities for care leavers. In January 2023, Ofsted introduced a new, separate judgement in the inspection framework for local authority children’s services, specifically assessing the experiences and progress of care leavers.

​Alongside this, a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, brings together relevant Ministers from across government to consider what more can be done to improve outcomes for care leavers and to help to achieve the five care-leavers-related ‘Missions’ as set out in the government’s children’s social care strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. This includes looking to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness.


Written Question
Care Leavers: Housing
Thursday 28th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the provision of safe and suitable housing for care leavers and thereby reduce the risk of care leavers becoming homeless.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Helping care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government. Care leavers face barriers to securing and maintaining affordable housing and this is why we are committed to undertake actions within Mission 5 of the Care Review implementation plan to ensure an increase in the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and a reduction in care leaver homelessness by 2027. This includes bringing forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, for Staying Put to support young people up to age 23 and for Staying Close to be a national entitlement, recognising that young people in the general population are leaving home at older ages. The department will also bring forward legislation to remove the local connection requirement for care leavers seeking access to social housing at the next available opportunity.

The department has previously provided £11.3 million in targeted funding to local authorities in England as part of the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. An additional £3 million is being provided this year to deliver extra support for care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping.

To support care leavers in the current spending review period (2022/2025), the department is providing £99.8 million to local authorities to increase the number of care leavers that stay living with their foster families in a family home up to the age of 21 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme. The department is also providing £53 million to increase the number of young people leaving residential care who receive practical help with move-on accommodation, including ongoing support from a keyworker, through the ‘Staying Close’ programme.


Written Question
HIV Infection: Ethnic Groups
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the availability of (a) education, (b) employment and (c) housing for the black community on rates of HIV transmission within that community.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of the availability of education, employment and housing for the black community on rates of HIV transmission within that community.

Statutory guidance on relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education is the responsibility of the Department for Education. This ensures that pupils understand transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and that they understand how and where to access confidential sexual and reproductive health advice and treatment, amongst other key issues.

The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes.

As part of the Plan, the Department has committed £3.5 million to fund a national HIV prevention programme for England, HIV Prevention England (HPE). The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, with a particular focus on Black African communities, delivering a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas with high HIV prevalence.

NHSE England is also investing £33 million to fund and roll out the blood-borne virus emergency department (BBV ED) opt-out testing programme covering the 21 local authorities with the highest HIV prevalence. Findings published by UKHSA show that the programme has been particularly successful in engaging harder to reach groups, such as older people, women, people from non-white British backgrounds, and people living in the most deprived areas.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25.


Written Question
Meals on Wheels
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that Meals on Wheels services are adequately resourced to meet the (a) nutritional needs and (b) social well-being of (i) older and (ii) disabled people.

Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The provision of Meals on Wheels is an important public service and Councils are best placed to make decisions about their provision alongside other local services.

To enable this, final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23. This includes around £2 billion in additional grant for social care through the Settlement for 2023/24.


Written Question
Housing: Older People
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities with housing vulnerable elderly citizens in (a) Romford and (b) England.

Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 201711 on 23 October 2023. This is part of the £2 billion of funding committed to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.

The right housing can play a vital role in delivering improved wellbeing and health, and greater independence, for many older people. It is for local authorities such as London Borough of Havering in Romford to plan for the right housing options, working with local partners, based on the needs of older people locally.

The £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme (2021-26) (England) includes delivery within the programme of new supply of supported and sheltered housing. This is alongside other investment in specialist housing for older and disabled people with personal care needs, through the Department for Health and Social Care.

The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look at how a greater choice of housing might be provided for older people. The year-long Taskforce launched in May 2023 and the Government is looking forward to receiving its final recommendations in 2024.


Written Question
Homelessness: Families
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities with housing vulnerable homeless families in (a) Romford and (b) England.

Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 201711 on 23 October 2023. This is part of the £2 billion of funding committed to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.

The right housing can play a vital role in delivering improved wellbeing and health, and greater independence, for many older people. It is for local authorities such as London Borough of Havering in Romford to plan for the right housing options, working with local partners, based on the needs of older people locally.

The £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme (2021-26) (England) includes delivery within the programme of new supply of supported and sheltered housing. This is alongside other investment in specialist housing for older and disabled people with personal care needs, through the Department for Health and Social Care.

The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look at how a greater choice of housing might be provided for older people. The year-long Taskforce launched in May 2023 and the Government is looking forward to receiving its final recommendations in 2024.


Written Question
Shared Ownership Schemes: Energy
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of energy costs on the purchase of shared ownership extra care schemes.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

All shared ownership applicants must complete an affordability assessment with an independent, accredited financial adviser before completing their purchase. This assessment is designed to establish the size of share that the applicant should purchase and to ensure that they have the financial resources necessary to meet their ongoing housing costs over the long term.

Energy prices have come down 23% since their peak and the Government spent around £40 billion to cover around half a household's typical bill last winter, plus extra targeted support for older and disabled people. We are still providing extra support for those who need it most.


Written Question
Housing: Older People
Friday 28th July 2023

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the launch of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Older People’s Housing Taskforce launched on 16th May. The independent Taskforce, led by Professor Julienne Meyer, is looking at how the country can provide greater choice of housing for older people, and will report to Government within around 12 months. The panel of 19 Taskforce members was announced at the inaugural meeting, with a spread of expertise across the retirement housing sector including providers, academia, social care, local authority leaders and property investment.

Since the launch, the Taskforce has been meeting on a regular basis to progress its work. On 24th July, the Taskforce launched a Call for Evidence, which is open until 18th September for representations from the sector.


Written Question
Housing: Disability and Older People
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department provides local planning authorities on supporting (a) elderly and (b) disabled people with their housing needs.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require supported housing, and reflect this in planning policies. We also published guidance in 2019 to help councils put policies in place to achieve this.

In addition, as part of our recent consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework, we proposed additional wording which would explicitly set out that local authorities should plan for the needs of older people, including for retirement, housing with care and care homes. We will be publishing a government response to the consultation in due course.

The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce and asked it to examine how to improve house options for people in later life and to make recommendations to Ministers. The taskforce is expected to make its report to Ministers in the spring of 2024.