Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of rough sleepers in (1) London, and (2) each other region in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government inherited a homelessness crisis - the number of people sleeping rough is far too high. The latest published management information estimated that 2,195 people slept rough across the month in London in September 2025 and 9,292 people slept rough across the month in England. Housing and homelessness is devolved, but the government publishes data on the number of people sleeping rough in England, including regional breakdowns, here.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the actions necessary to return the number of people sleeping rough to the level achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government’s long-term vision is to end homelessness and rough sleeping and we are focused on delivering long-term solutions to prevent people from sleeping rough in the first place. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out the actions we will take to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament including investing £15 million in our Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme to enable councils with the greatest pressures to deliver more personalised and comprehensive support for people with complex needs.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to promote stability in the property market.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s Plan for Change includes our commitment to deliver 1.5 million new homes in England in this Parliament. This sends a clear signal to the market of the scale of our ambition in boosting housing supply.
We are supporting a healthy and sustainable market through bold planning reforms, a significant package of investment including £39 billion for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme confirmed at the Spending Review, and supporting first-time buyers in purchasing their own home through a new permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current number of rough sleepers.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Local authorities in England submit monthly management information on the number of people sleeping rough in their area. The Government publishes this information quarterly on Homelessness statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of rough sleepers within each of the next three years, and by how much.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has increased funding for homelessness services in England by £233 million this year to a total of £1 billion, which will help prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. The Spending Review protects this record level of investment in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping for the next three years and provides an additional £100 million, including from the Transformation Fund, to fund increased homelessness prevention activity by local authorities.
The Government is currently seeking feedback on the Local Government Outcomes Framework, a new approach to accountability that is outcome-based. We have proposed including a priority outcome to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.
Our forthcoming homelessness strategy will also set out the actions needed across central, local government and the homelessness sector to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of readiness of fire and rescue services and other agencies to cope with outbreaks of wildfires in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that wildfires are an increasing threat to people, properties, infrastructure, and the environment.
Each fire and rescue authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire), through their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), and having regard to the views of other key local responders.
Since 2024 the Government has funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Across the country there are many examples of effective collaborative working at the local level between land managers, those with local knowledge, first responders, local resilience forums and other stakeholders before, during and after wildfires.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) maintains regular engagement with other government departments including Defra and Cabinet Office, along with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF) to monitor and review sector led improvements and mitigations.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to paragraph 4.41 of the Spending Review (CP 1337), which new mayoral strategic authorities they are supporting to enable them to access the benefits of strong local leadership.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
At the Spending Review, this government reconfirmed its commitment to the Devolution Priority Programme. The six areas on the DPP are Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Sussex and Brighton, and Norfolk and Suffolk. Following recent consultations in these areas, Government is now carefully considering the evidence collected in order to decide whether statutory tests have been met.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the concerns expressed by the National Fire Chief's Council (NFCC's) regarding the safety of the public and of firefighters; and what assessment they have made of the NFCC's analysis, published on 4 June, showing a 20 per cent increase in the number of incidents attended by the fire and rescue service over the last decade.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I am replying as a minister in the department that now holds policy responsibility for fire and rescue. It is the government’s priority to ensure the safety of both the public and of our firefighters. We are grateful to the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) for highlighting the 20 per cent increase in the number of incidents attended by the fire and rescue service over the last decade, which we recognise was drawn from the quarterly statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-year-ending-december-2024).
We recognise that the data covers callouts relating to fire, non-fire and false alarms. We intend to discuss this in further detail with the NFCC.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the mental well-being of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government remains fully committed to supporting the Grenfell community and working with them to build a lasting legacy in North Kensington. This must include ensuring that the physical, and mental health support they need is available for the long term.
Since 2017, the Government has committed over £158 million, including delivering a bespoke Grenfell Health and Wellbeing offer in partnership with NHS England and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council.
The Secretary of State and I continue to work closely with the NHS, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and other parts of the government on future services, to ensure there is effective long-term physical and mental health support for the community, including for children and young people.
NHS England is developing further proposals, following its initial commitment of £50 million to fund Grenfell Health services to 2024. RBKC has committed to providing additional resources for the next phase of its recovery programme for 2024-2028. Both programmes will be developed in partnership with the community to ensure services are reflective of the evolving needs of all those affected.
The Secretary of State and I will also continue to meet with the bereaved, survivors and residents of North Kensington to hear from them directly, and to ensure that my department continues to play a leading role in making sure that the right support is available to meet the community's needs.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure that the devolved administrations and His Majesty's Government learn from each other and, where appropriate, co-ordinate policy decisions.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK Government and the devolved administrations jointly agreed improved ways of working in January 2022. The new intergovernmental system ensures that ministers and officials are working together, across all areas, maintaining open channels of communication, discussing best practice and sharing learning from across the governments. Tackling our challenges is a shared endeavour and already this year there have been over 60 ministerial meetings between the Government and DAs on a wide range of issues
This collaboration has been vital in ensuring UK-wide join up, from tackling cost of living pressures to delivering the Homes for Ukraine which has helped over 117,000 people.
As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the UK Government is determined to do more to enable the sharing of evidence between the government and devolved administrations. The Concordat on Statistics provides a framework for statistical co-operation between the government and devolved administrations, and the UK Statistics Authority continues to lead on a suite of work to improve the UK-wide coherency of evidence in public policy-making.