Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

Esther McVey Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his support and for recognising the work that we are trying to do and areas where we are working to get additional funding from the Treasury. He is right about ensuring that funding goes out as quickly as possible, and we are working with a range of different councils and strategic authorities to look at how best to get that funding out. Discussions continue to go on with my officials, the Local Government Association and other council leaders to ensure that the money goes out in the most appropriate ways.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Can the Minister clarify something for me? Over the weekend, it was revealed that criminals released early from prison under Labour’s appalling Sentencing Act 2026 were provided with tents, because no accommodation was available for them. Those are criminals who are now out on the street and homeless. Can the Minister let me know if some of the £874 million for homeless people goes to finding accommodation for those early-release criminals? If there is no accommodation for those criminals, where is the accommodation coming from for homeless people?

[Florence Eshalomi]

One of the key pressures that we see is the revolving door of criminals being released with nowhere to go. This is about how we tackle and address the stigma with criminals coming out from prison. We are working closely with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice to identify and ensure that before prisoners are released, they have somewhere safe and secure to go. Ultimately, this is about looking at where the funding is going. With regard to the right hon. Lady’s comment about the tents, I am not aware of that, but I am happy to provide her with additional information.