Oral Answers to Questions

Bill Esterson Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I know that she took a keen interest in this issue before she entered the House. We provided more than £500,000 in homelessness prevention grant funding to Portsmouth Council back in 2013-14, and the council was able to use it to prevent 1,021 households from becoming homeless. We are providing a further £550,000 to Portsmouth for the same purpose this year. I am certainly not complacent, however, and I can assure my hon. Friend that I want to work with local authorities to build on best practice. I shall also be meeting representatives of Crisis next month to discuss what more can be done to improve services for homeless people.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that the best way for the Government to help councils to help homeless people is to ensure that councils can build more council houses?

[Mr Jones]

I am aware that councils can build council housing. That is quite an interesting question, because more council houses were built during the past five years of the coalition Government than during the previous 13 years under Labour.