Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Debate between Earl of Listowel and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I do not have the exact percentage but I acknowledge that there must be, and will be, some ex-prisoners among the homeless and rough sleepers who may go back to prison. When they leave prison, their benefits are calculated in the normal way.
The Earl of Listowel
From the Cross-Benches, I ask how care-experience young people are represented in the rough sleepers’ figures. Will the Government consider bringing forward an amendment to the Children and Families Bill to place a duty on local authorities to enable young people leaving care to stay with their foster carers, where they choose to, to the age of 21, instead of being obliged to leave at 18, whether they like to or not, as is the current situation?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, my understanding is that for children leaving care, local authorities are obliged to keep acting for them until they are 21 if they are homeless. So they are already being looked after. We recognise that a number of children under 21 leave care. The 15 to 18 year-olds, in particular, are well cared for but we know that we have problems with the 18 to 25 year-olds. I am advised that in the specific area of children leaving care, local authorities have responsibility for those until they are 21.
English Language Learning
Debate between Earl of Listowel and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, in the current economic climate, different decisions have to be made on ESOL as well as on everything else. The Government are prioritising investment in training for unemployed people who are actively seeking work. We expect those who come from other countries to work in England, or their employers, to meet the cost of their English language courses. We will no longer fund ESOL in the workplace. On the division of responsibility between departments on this matter, I will make sure that the BIS aspect goes back to that department.
The Earl of Listowel
Does the Minister understand the deep concern of a head teacher of an outstanding primary school in inner-city Manchester, 80 per cent of whose intake is Somali children, that funding for its ESOL courses may be cut? Is she aware of the research that shows that what happens in the home—the support that parents give children in their education—is the single most important factor in achieving the best educational outcomes for them?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, as far as I am aware, the education of children is not affected. Children are taught English in schools and will continue to be so taught despite this measure. The Department for Education, of course, is responsible for that.
Local Government: Finance
Debate between Earl of Listowel and Baroness Hanham
The Earl of Listowel
I warmly welcome what the Minister says about encouraging local authorities to share back-office functions and services and to join together in reducing procurement costs. That is challenging and I hope that the Government may assist local authorities as far as possible. Does the Minister recognise that, if youth services are cut and the number of youth clubs is reduced, that may severely impair Her Majesty’s Government’s determination to reduce prison numbers? The devil certainly makes work for idle young hands. As research evidence clearly shows, it is hugely costly to lock up young people and, once they have been locked up, 70 per cent will return within two years. Can she offer any comfort as regards youth services? Are the Government considering models of good practice in the area to give to local authorities?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, youth clubs are invaluable and are run by the voluntary sector. Some of the other aspects that noble Lords have raised will come out of Home Office funding, not from local government. Nobody would disagree with a word that the noble Earl says. One wants to prevent people from going into prison because, once they are in, we all know that that just leads to further problems. The aspects that he raises are not really for the local government settlement.
Housing: Market Renewal Partnerships
Debate between Earl of Listowel and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, this has been an issue ever since the pathfinder programme was set up under one of the previous Secretaries of State, John Prescott, when there was a great overexuberance in some parts of the country for felling old houses. It is entirely up to each pathfinder and local authority as to what they do, but the message must have gone out very clearly that some people love old houses. If they can be put right and the neighbourhood maintained, that would seem to be a reasonable answer.
The Earl of Listowel
My Lords, what progress is being made in reducing the number of families in temporary accommodation? I ask, in the context of these cuts, whether those families are still being given priority.