Oral Answers to Questions
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(3 days, 8 hours ago)
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Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)
The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
We are grateful to everyone who has opened their home to Ukrainians. Over £1.8 billion has supported the scheme. Funding changes for Homes for Ukraine are sustainable; thank you payments continue recognition of a host’s generosity, and host retention depends on individual decisions and cannot be reliably estimated. Our councils retain the funding for re-matching and homelessness prevention.
Martin Wrigley
With the dropping of the thank you payment from £350 to £100 on 1 January, many hosts find that their costs are no longer being covered and are considering evicting their guests. Hosts and guests are being encouraged to move to a lodger scheme using the “rent a room” scheme. I am told that the going rate for a room in my constituency is around £600, and universal credit would pay a lot more than the £350 saved from the thank you payment. In addition, Ukrainian guests would lose the help available from the local authority to move on to a first private rental. All in all, this reduction in the thank you payment looks likely to cost the state more than it might save and to reduce the help on offer to our Ukrainian guests. Will the Minister meet me and local Ukrainian hosts, or would she prefer to think again about the reduction?
Florence Eshalomi
The Government remain committed to supporting Ukrainians in the long term. The funding changes are designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme. Councils can retain flexibility for funding and re-matching and for looking at homelessness prevention, including by helping guests to find accommodation and overcome any barriers to private renting. Existing host arrangements can move to lodging or rental agreements, and we will continue to monitor any issues around homelessness and will work with councils to respond as pressures emerge.
Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
Responsibility for supported accommodation in Northern Ireland is devolved, as the hon. Gentleman knows. In England we are implementing the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 to strengthen local oversight, improve quality and ensure that councils assess local needs, and we will continue to work with our devolved Governments.
Jim Shannon
I thank the Minister for her answer; she probably knows what my question is going to be. Veterans across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland suffering trauma find it very difficult to find accommodation. As mental health is so complex, no two people have the same needs, making a case-by-case assessment essential. What discussions has the Minister had with the relevant Department and the Northern Ireland Assembly to ascertain what help can be given to veterans? I understand that the Barnett consequential has set aside moneys for homelessness, so there might be a methodology for providing help.
Florence Eshalomi
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that people have complex mental health needs and that our veterans face various issues. Each case has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. I come back to my original response: as the hon. Gentleman knows, this is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland. However, I am always open to looking at the learning and at options that we can share across England to ensure that we end rough sleeping and homelessness for good.
Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)
Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)
The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
I agree with my hon. Friend that our firefighters worked tirelessly to protect lives, homes and critical infrastructure during the wildfires this summer, and they should have the equipment to respond to that risk. That is why at the wildfire summit last month the Government announced £45 million of investment for wildfire-specific personal protective equipment for firefighters in England and UK-wide aerial capability. We will continue to engage with the Treasury post-Budget and ahead of the spending review to ensure that we are working towards meeting the needs of fire and rescue services.
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
Naushabah Khan (Gillingham and Rainham) (Lab)
Hundreds of people are being placed in my constituency by London councils. They are being moved away from their support networks through out-of-borough placements and without proper notification. Often these are vulnerable families with high needs, which then have to be met by overstretched services at Medway council. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can improve this system and support the authorities that are dealing with the bulk of out-of-borough placements?
Florence Eshalomi
Many hon. Members have raised the issue of local authorities using their temporary accommodation discharge narrative, and I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and other Members to discuss this further.
Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)
Since I last asked the Minister about the Liberal Democrats’ £620 million-worth of debt at Eastleigh borough council, it has got bigger, the external auditors have said that there have been financial misstatements and a lack of management financially, and the Government have now given it £150 million for social housing. What will it take for this Minister to come down on Eastleigh borough council and get that debt down?
Florence Eshalomi
I recognise how distressing this situation will be for the many residents who have had to leave their homes, with the evacuation and the fear that the buildings might collapse. The buildings have been evacuated following defects identified in transverse slabs. My officials are supporting the London borough of Newham and the right-to-manage companies, and we are engaging with the developer, Galliard, and the warranty providers to ensure that they respond to this situation as swiftly as possible.
Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
How does the abolition of a rural district council such as New Forest, and its absorption into a unitary authority dominated by an urban centre such as Southampton, increase devolution and local democracy?
Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill
Florence Eshalomi ExcerptsTuesday 27th October 2026
(1 week, 2 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill 2026-27 View all Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill 2026-27 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
I thank Members from across the House for their contributions. As the Secretary of State, the shadow Minister and many hon. and right hon. Members outlined, next June will mark a decade since the Grenfell fire disaster took the lives of 72 people, including 18 children. None of us can imagine the horror that survivors, families and friends suffered that day, and the community will continue to carry that trauma, anguish and suffering throughout their lives.
It is a tragedy that should never have happened, and one that must never happen again, but we must be honest and say that it is unacceptable that far too many people in this country still do not have the safety and security of a safe roof over their heads, nine years after Grenfell. This is not just about building safety; it is about giving everyone the peace of mind that a safe, decent and affordable home brings. We must ask ourselves how we can expect anyone to sleep soundly, and get on in life, if the building they sleep in every night is covered in dangerous and flammable cladding. The building safety crisis must be resolved, homes must be made safe, and residents must be allowed to live their lives.
This Government were elected on a manifesto that made commitments to accelerate remediation, better protect leaseholders and make those responsible for the building safety crisis pay to put it right. Our remediation acceleration plan and this Bill deliver on that pledge. By introducing a register of 11 to 18 metre buildings and a national standard for assessing buildings, the Bill will finally bring certainty on the scale of the problem and the work required to fix it. By creating a new legal duty to remediate, backed up by substantial new penalties for inaction, we will compel those responsible to fix their buildings without delay.
Gideon Amos
I am extremely grateful to the Minister for giving way during a very serious and measured speech. She referred to the standard of remediation. A number of Members, including myself, raised use of the standard of tolerability instead of building regulations. Are the Government willing to review the standard of remediation so that after remediation, buildings are not left, as they are now, with flammable cladding on the outside?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. A number of Members have raised the matter of remediation standards. I know that the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton), who is sitting next to him, also raised it in a recent Westminster Hall debate that I responded to.
Many right hon. and hon. Members will be aware that the Bill will make independent auditing of fire risk appraisals of external walls mandatory. We are confident that PAS 9980 has a robust and appropriate methodology for assessing the risk of fire spreading throughout the building. The Bill will also look at the independent auditing and the statutory requirement, ensuring that additional checks on those assessments have been carried out properly. To reassure Members, Homes England will also audit all assessments that recommend mitigation and remediation and will have the power to audit other assessments.
By delivering the remediation backstop, we will ensure that no building and no resident is left behind, even if the person responsible for the building is determined to ignore the risks it presents to residents. By creating stronger avenues for redress against construction product manufacturers, we will ensure that those responsible for the cladding safety crisis pay towards the cost of fixing it.
I thank the Secretary of State and the Building Safety Minister, Baroness Blake, for bringing the Bill forward. I also thank all the Ministers who came before me for the work they did to make this Bill a reality, including the Lord Chancellor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham and Croydon North (Steve Reed) and my hon. Friends the Members for Chester North and Neston (Samantha Dixon) and for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali).
Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)
On the subject of fire safety, residents of Fletton Quays in my constituency were shocked recently to see nearly all internal fire doors fail an inspection; it turns out that they had not been inspected for many years and had been allowed to fall into disrepair, and residents are now on the hook to replace them at high cost, as well as being subjected to dangerous conditions. Does the Minister agree that that is really not on, and would she ask officials to examine whether that might be happening in other blocks of flats around the country, meaning that it might merit Government intervention?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for that point. This Bill deliberately focuses on unsafe external cladding, because the Grenfell tower inquiry phase 1 report found that cladding on external walls. We will be looking at the area he raises as the Bill progresses, so I give him that assurance.
I now turn to a number of comments made by right hon. and hon. Members today, and apologise that I may not be able to cover all Members’ comments. I start with the shadow Minister and the comments she made on the limited workforce capacity of fire safety technicians. We will continue to review that area. There is additional funding to ensure that those fire assessors are in place.
My hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) outlined why this is such an important issue. I thank him for tireless campaigning and continued work with the survivors of Grenfell. He highlighted some of the dangers that still exist and mentioned the increasing costs that many of his constituents are facing—examples of some residents who are having to pay eye-watering bills to fix the issues. One of the matters I worked with him on in my former role as Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee was the national oversight mechanism. It is not right that we are having to go through those recommendations one by one. I hope I can assure him that the Government accepted all the inquiry’s recommendations and we are making progress.
The hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) outlined the issue with PAS 9980. I hope that he will be assured that we will continue to look at that.
My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott) detailed the real-life nature of this issue and the fact that many leaseholders continue to be left in limbo, and their mental state is being affected. Leaseholders are in limbo, waiting for remediation, sometimes having to spend a decade out of their homes. Residents continue to face this injustice, and I thank him for continuing to work with leaseholders.
My hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) outlined the work that he has been leading around Ocean Village and Oceana Boulevard. That building was built only 20 years ago—yet, 10 years in, fire safety defects were outlined. That shows why we have to continue to work to ensure that all buildings are safe, including some that were deemed to be new builds.
The hon. Member for Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) detailed the tragic case of her 97-year-old constituent, who is having to rely on her children to buy her property to give her some certainty. They are now lumbered with a property that they cannot sell—simply for doing the right thing for their parent. No child should have to go through that process and face those costs. That is why we are making sure that the developers are paying for the work with the developer remediation fund.
My hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Mike Reader) outlined points that a number of Members highlighted. We will continue to look at the issues around insurance and non-qualifying leaseholders. I know he has expertise and knowledge on construction product manufacture, and I will continue to engage with him as the Bill progresses.
My hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) outlined the work she has been doing with her constituents for many years and praised the decisive action taken by Salford council to act fast and think later, and then seek those costs back. It shows that our local authorities, where possible, are stepping forward to fill the gaps where developers have failed, but councils should not have to be leading on this. The developers of the buildings should be the ones paying, and we hope that the Bill will identify those owners.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South (Hilary Benn) outlined the fantastic work that he has been doing with the Leeds cladding campaigners. He also highlighted the issues around the delays in building safety regulations. Under the leadership of Lord Roe and Charlie Pugsley, I hope that Members will see that we are making progress in building regulation standards.
My hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) highlighted the tragic case of the fire at Neutron Tower, which sadly resulted in a resident losing his life. My hon. Friend knows that the investigation is still ongoing, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment, but we are continuing to work with relevant parties to ensure that the safeguarding and wellbeing of displaced residents is addressed as soon as possible. The London Fire Brigade has stated that the fire is believed to be accidental, but as this investigation is ongoing, we will continue to engage with my hon. Friend and her residents.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) highlighted the PTSD faced by his constituent. That shows the real-life consequences that many of our firefighters—the first responders to that tragic fire and the many tragic fires we continue to see—have to live with. I hope that Ministers in the DWP will take into account how my hon. Friend’s constituent has to reapply every two years to that Department.
This is a real issue on which all hon. Members need to continue to engage and discuss. I hope that hon. Members will continue to engage constructively with us as the Bill progresses through the Public Bill Committee.
The passion with which hon. Members have spoken is testament to the desire we all share to bring the building safety crisis to an end and protect the residents and leaseholders who desperately need and want to see action. The Government are delivering on that. We are providing more remediation funding than ever before, remediating more buildings than ever before, prioritising higher-risk buildings and putting the safety of residents at the heart of our work.
My hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Kevin Bonavia) spoke about the work of his constituent, whom the Secretary of State and I had the pleasure of meeting two weeks ago, along with cladding scandal group members. No one could have been unmoved when listening to their testimony, given the real-life issues and trauma that the ongoing delay is causing to so many. People’s lives are on hold—they cannot plan for their future, and they are in financial ruins. Tragically, some people have died waiting for the issue to be resolved.
Alongside the package of measures we have delivered to accelerate remediation and support leaseholders, the Bill will ensure that no building and no resident is left behind. I hope that hon. Members see that the Bill will bring certainty, clarity and accountability to drive forward remediation and make every building safe. That is what we owe to residents, and that what we owe to the country.
I am grateful to hon. Members from all parties who have given their support to work with us on the Bill. In that spirit, I commend it to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read a Second time.
Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill (Programme)
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 83A(7)),
That the following provisions shall apply to the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill:
Committal
(1) The Bill shall be committed to a Public Bill Committee.
Proceedings in Public Bill Committee
(2) Proceedings in the Public Bill Committee shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion on Tuesday 8 December 2026.
(3) The Public Bill Committee shall have leave to sit twice on the first day on which it meets.
Consideration and Third Reading
(4) Proceedings on Consideration shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour before the moment of interruption on the day on which those proceedings are commenced.
(5) Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption on that day.
(6) Standing Order No. 83B (Programming committees) shall not apply to proceedings on Consideration and Third Reading.
Other proceedings
(7) Any other proceedings on the Bill may be programmed.—(Rachel Hopkins.)
Question agreed to.
Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill (Money)
King’s recommendation signified.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 52(1)(a)),
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of:
(a) any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of the Act by the Secretary of State, and
(b) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided.—(Rachel Hopkins.)
Question agreed to.
Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill (Ways and Means)
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 52(1)(a)),
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, it is expedient to authorise the charging of fees and charges under or by virtue of the Act.—(Rachel Hopkins.)
Question agreed to.
Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(1 week, 3 days ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
With permission, I would like to make a statement on the Government’s plan to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness and to deliver good growth in every part of the country. On the Prime Minister’s first day in Downing Street, he made ending rough sleeping his first priority. He did so because having a safe and secure place to call home matters to almost everything else in life. It affects our health and how children do at school, whether people can find and keep a job and the opportunities that come their way in the future.
Security is about much more than a roof over our heads; it is about whether the place we call home gives us the chance to succeed. That means putting the foundations in place for strong local economies and thriving places, because, ultimately, the economic growth we want is created by people, and people are better able to get on in life when they have a decent home, a good job and a community with the tools to shape its own future. For this Government, that means backing local leaders, too, giving them the freedom to invest in the homes, high streets, jobs and infrastructure their communities need, rather than making them bid for funding from Whitehall pots.
Today, I am updating the House on two important steps in our work: new investment to tackle rough sleeping and prevent homelessness, and the roll-out of good growth funding across England. Both stem from the same belief: national Government should provide the backing while local leaders who know their communities have the freedom to get on and deliver.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister brought together local leaders, charities, businesses and other partners in Downing Street to drive forward the pledge he made on his first day in office. Our immediate commitment is to offer everyone sleeping rough a route off the streets this Christmas and to bring forward new accommodation and the right support to help people move ahead with their lives. We are backing that commitment with an extra £432 million from next year, so that local areas can continue to provide a route off the streets over the rest of this Parliament. That takes the total funding supporting the Prime Minister’s pledge to £874 million.
This immediate help matters enormously, particularly as the winter approaches. This weekend, the first two named storms of the season brought severe weather across the country. Tragically, two men lost their lives after being struck by falling trees in Dumfries and Galloway and in north London. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones. For anyone sleeping rough on the streets, that is a stark reminder of the dangers that winter can bring.
Getting people somewhere safe is urgent, but just as important is what happens next. It is not enough to offer somebody a bed for a few nights and then see them return to the streets. People sleeping rough may need help with their physical or mental health, finding a job or other complex needs. A route off the streets, then, must come with the support that people need to rebuild their lives, regain their independence and, crucially, find lasting security away from the streets.
This programme is designed to be led locally. Rough sleeping does not stop at council boundaries, and neither do many of the services that people rely on. Whether funding goes directly to local councils or through mayoral strategic authorities, local leaders will have the flexibility to bring partners together and respond to local pressures.
However, we need to break the cycle of crisis altogether. We cannot wait until someone has lost their home before stepping in. That is at the heart of our national plan to end homelessness: public services working together, intervening earlier and preventing homelessness wherever possible. That is why we have already moved to ban no-fault evictions, repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 and reform right to buy to protect our social housing stock. We are bringing long-term empty homes back into use and tackling unsuitable bed-and-breakfast accommodation for families. Temporary accommodation should be temporary. All too often, it is anything but.
The principle of trust in local leaders brings me to good growth. In our “Rewiring the State” Cabinet statement in July, we committed to supporting mayors to establish good growth funds across England, putting more investment and decisions in the hands of local leaders. Today, I am updating the House on the first steps towards delivering that commitment, ahead of the Chancellor confirming the plans at the Budget.
The people best placed to help their communities should be given the freedom to invest in their future. For too long, local leaders have had to navigate a patchwork of Whitehall funding pots, making it harder to plan for the long term and use public money effectively to unlock the most important projects for economic growth. Good growth funds are designed to change that.
Today, we are confirming funding of £285 million for 2027-28, comprising good growth funds and transitional capital funding for other areas progressing towards mayoral devolution. That will give local leaders more freedom to invest in the projects their places need, from homes and town centre regeneration to infrastructure that connects people to jobs and opportunities. Importantly, when money goes back into that fund, it can be used to back new projects. That creates a virtuous cycle: public money goes further while mayors gain greater independence to plan and deliver for the long term.
I am proud to be a product of local government, and I want local government to have the means to deliver. That is why we are working with mayors to design a new £1.5 billion borrowing facility from 2028, giving them access to finance to back major local projects. We will provide strategic authorities with an additional £150 million in 2027-28 to strengthen their capacity and capability as the range of powers and responsibilities they hold grows, because devolution cannot simply mean giving local leaders more responsibility. If we expect them to take on that responsibility, they need the people, expertise and resources to deliver properly. These are first steps. The Chancellor will confirm these plans at the Budget, alongside the fiscal devolution road map, which will set out the Government’s plan for a new funding system for regional and local government in England.
I began with the commitment the Prime Minister made on his first day in Downing Street. Today’s summit at Downing Street was about keeping the momentum behind that promise—getting people off the streets, ensuring that the right help is there for them afterwards and breaking the cycle of crisis that leads people into homelessness in the first place. The Prime Minister also talked on his first day about a Government who invest in people’s successes rather than paying for failure, and that underpins all I have set out today. People can get on in life when they have a decent home, a good job and a community with the confidence and means to shape its future. That means giving people the security they need. It means giving local leaders the powers and investment to create opportunities in the places they know best. That is how we build a country where no one is written off and where every part of the country has the chance to succeed and to share in that good growth. In that spirit, I commend this statement to the House.
Lewis Cocking (Broxbourne) (Con)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement.
Over the weekend, we heard yet another policy announcement made through the media, with the Prime Minister taking time out of his very busy reality TV schedule to brief the press that he will apparently end rough sleeping by Christmas. That is a laudable aim, which I think will be shared across the House by parties of all colours—I am sure everyone in this country wants to see rough sleeping fixed as an issue once and for all—but the pledge reminds me of a similar one, made almost a decade ago, in 2017, by the then Mayor of Greater Manchester, to end rough sleeping in that city region by 2020. Again, it was a nice idea, sold in a nice, upbeat way, but sadly it did not reflect the reality. Rough sleeping still exists in Greater Manchester; in fact, the numbers have risen from 2021, and the rate even doubled in 2025-26.
The Prime Minister may be in his new job—and perhaps he took inspiration from another reality TV programme, “The Traitors”, to kick out his predecessor with the help of his new Chancellor—but the Labour party is not new in government. It has been in charge now for well over two years, exactly the same period during which rough sleeping has continued to rise in Greater Manchester. The Prime Minister asked us to judge him on his record as the Mayor of Greater Manchester, so that is precisely what we are doing.
Failure in Manchester is one thing, but on a national scale the numbers are even bigger. So far, the Prime Minister has said that he will put another £432 million of taxpayers’ cash towards this approach, bringing the total commitment to £874 million. The Government themselves estimate that there are around 4,000 rough sleepers on an average night, which means the policy will cost in the region of £200,000 per rough sleeper. Will the Minister confirm that and tell us where all the money will go?
At the same time, the Prime Minister refuses to rule out tax rises or to upset his left-wing Back Benchers by cutting benefits, so the Government need to be honest about where all this money will come from. He has talked about bringing hope, he talks about positivity, and we all know his fondness for “good vibes”, but what really matters is the delivery and the detail. In the past, the Prime Minister has failed to deliver on this issue precisely. He talked a good talk, he made the grand promises, but he could not keep them on rough sleeping. We see this time and again from Labour Members, because they believe they can solve a problem just by throwing more money at it, as if money grows on a magic money tree. They need to accept that it is not their money; it is taxpayers’ money—taxpayers who are increasingly being squeezed for all that they have; taxpayers who deserve to know where their hard-earned cash is being spent and that it is being spent wisely.
I am sorry, but taxpayers are being completely let down by this Labour Government. The deficit is out of control, and rather than making the necessary cuts, they are coming back with even more spending commitments. We have a Budget later this week, and the Conservative party has been clear that the Chancellor must use it as an opportunity to properly deliver for working people across the United Kingdom. The benefits bill has to be cut, the tax burden needs to be eased on businesses and workers, and the net zero nonsense that makes our electricity and heating more expensive has to go.
Of course, all of us on this side of the House want to see rough sleeping ended, but that will only be achieved through action, not through empty promises made by a Prime Minister with a track record of failure on this issue. We need to see delivery.
When this Labour Government pledge to deliver, they fail to deliver. Perhaps the Minister can remind me how they are getting on with building the 1.5 million new homes they promised to build, as housing supply and rough sleeping are clearly linked. Why should anyone believe that they can deliver when the Prime Minister has repeatedly failed on this precise issue?
When the Labour party fails—as it always does, every time it is in government—it is always someone else’s fault. It is always someone else’s money. Labour Members can come out with all the pledges and promises they want, but at the end of the day it is the British people who have to pay for their repeated failures.
Florence Eshalomi
It is always good to see the hon. Member in his place.
We have to look at the facts of what we are dealing with. This Government inherited a homelessness and rough sleeping crisis; both rough sleeping and homelessness in temporary accommodation have more than doubled since 2010. I mentioned that I have just come from a summit earlier this morning in Downing Street, where the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and I convened a range of organisations, charities, faith leaders, civic societies and groups, and council leaders working on this important issue.
To understand the challenges of rough sleeping, we have to recognise that it is not about just putting a roof over people’s heads. For many people sleeping rough, it is about the wraparound support. It is about the long-term interventions on substance misuse. It is about support to help them manage their finances. This is what, crucially, that funding will go to. It is not about handing out £200,000 per person; it is about the many organisations who fundraise on an annual basis to address this issue. We on this side of the House are proud that this Government are committed to that, given that, to our shame, we are seeing people still sleeping rough in England in 2026.
The shadow Minister outlined the figures and statistics from Manchester. What he failed to realise and mention is the fact that the then Mayor of Greater Manchester inherited that crisis from the then Government, and that there was not enough funding to support some of the key initiatives. So the then Mayor of Greater Manchester took on that initiative, working with many charities to bring forward a programme which we are now looking to replicate in order to be able to meet this commitment.
When looking at investment and intensive support for people sleeping rough, we must listen to their lived experience—the lived experience that was shared with us this afternoon and at that summit—to ensure this is an issue not just for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to solve, but working across Departments, across Cabinet, showing that there is real commitment. Now we have a Prime Minister, Secretary of State and Minister who are really focused on looking at how we can end rough sleeping, I hope the Opposition will get on board.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
Ms Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)
I warmly welcome the Minister’s statement. I had the opportunity to attend the summit, and I agree that prevention is the key to ending rough sleeping. I ask the Minister to implement all the Committee recommendations from the rough sleeping inquiry—I know the Government have implemented some of them. I have a specific further question: what assessment have the Government made on identifying people likely to become at risk of homelessness if the local housing allowance remains frozen at this Wednesday’s Budget?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee for her participation in this morning’s summit. She highlighted the Committee’s statement and recommendations: I hope that she agrees that this Government are going further and faster than previous Governments in addressing rough sleeping. This new cash injection will make immediate provision to address the Committee’s recommendations, help to ensure people are off the streets by Christmas and, most importantly, provide long-term and intensive wraparound support to ensure that no one ends up back on the streets. She knows that the local housing allowance is close to my heart. We continue to raise it with Treasury colleagues and I ask her to continue to press the Treasury on the matter, in the same way that I will continue to do so.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
The Liberal Democrats welcome the Government’s commitment. We want to see an end to rough sleeping, but we have heard such pledges before. The last Conservative Government promised to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027, then brought that forward to 2024, but they achieved neither, leaving 8.5 million people in England with unmet housing needs. This attempt must do better—a catchy pre-Budget headline needs a plan behind it.
Somerset council has identified 142 bed spaces, but given that it will not know its share of the money until Wednesday, that will leave only around eight weeks for the council to deliver the spaces before Christmas. Rough sleeping is not just an urban problem: in Somerset, 80 people were found rough sleeping on a single night at the last count. In Glastonbury, 131 vans and caravans are being lived in at the roadside by people who have been priced out of a home by rents that they simply cannot afford. They do not show up in the rough sleeping count, but they are homeless in all but name. The County Councils Network warns that more than 23,000 children in rural England are growing up in temporary accommodation. None of this will be fixed without more social homes, so the Liberal Democrats would build 150,000 of them a year.
I have three questions for the Minister: is eight weeks a realistic timeframe for councils to deliver? Will the funding reach rural areas, not just our cities? And will it be backed by long-term investment in social housing, or will people be forced back on to the streets come January?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for her important questions. Local councils, strategic authorities and charities are working hand in hand with the Government to address rough sleeping. At the summit this morning, I heard people excited by the plans and the additional funding, and willing to play their part because they recognise that Government cannot do this alone. Solving this issue will take a whole-of-society approach and everyone coming together. The National Housing Federation has been working with its partners to bring forward and offer over 2,000 properties across the country, although we need many more and this is just a start.
Local councils are up for the challenge and they are working with the Government. I hope that the additional funding offers them the guarantee that the Government are committed to the issue in the long term. They had funding guaranteed only until March, but now they have funding for the next three years. We are putting our money where our mouth is to show that we are working on the issue and we are offering support in the long run.
The hon. Lady asks about rural local authorities. Rough sleeping comes in many different forms and guises across the country, and it is important for us to take a place-by-place approach. There are a range of complex reasons why people end up rough sleeping. We know that rough sleeping in urban areas is totally different from rough sleeping in coastal or rural areas, so any approach must be led by local councils, strategic authorities and local organisations who know what works best in the area.
The hon. Lady asks about our long-term building ambitions. We know that the only way that we can address the vicious cycle of people finding themselves homeless again and going back to sleeping rough is by having safe, secure and affordable social homes, like those that many hon. Members grew up in. Through the social and affordable homes programme, we are making the biggest cash injection to build those homes, and equally protecting the homes that we currently have. We have set out those plans in the Social Housing Bill, which I hope the Lib Dems will continue to support.
Darren Jones (Bristol North West) (Lab)
I thank the Minister and the Secretary of State and congratulate them on securing additional funding for this important initiative—not least because, on the basis of the submission from the shadow Minister, the Conservative party thinks that we should not be doing anything at all. I am pleased to see this Labour Government doing the right thing.
We have seen street homelessness increase in our constituencies over the years, not just in the areas where we might normally expect to see it, such as in Bristol city centre, but in vans, on the downs and in the church gardens in Shirehampton in Bristol North West. The prevalence of street homelessness has increased to unacceptable levels. Will the Minister tell us how the Department will decide how to split the pot of money it has received from the Treasury between different councils and communities across the country to ensure it gets directly to the people who need it most this winter?
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.
Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
I welcome this statement and the commitment of the Prime Minister and the Government. I note that in the Minister’s statement, she talked about the commitment being to offer everyone sleeping rough a route off the streets this Christmas. We know that during covid, some people were offered accommodation who were so used to living on the streets that they were not able to take it; in Hackney, the excellent lead on homelessness took a really pragmatic approach to dealing with that issue in the short term. Does the Minister have any idea of the percentage of people who will be affected by that issue and how they will get wraparound support if they refuse to take accommodation?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that really important question. The Routes off the Street initiative has to be tailored to a person’s individual circumstances—that could mean accommodation, support or both. Support could include things around mental health, substance misuse, employment or training, or support to access and maintain accommodation. One comment I heard at the summit was about someone who had been sleeping rough for many years who, even when offered accommodation, chose to sleep in a sleeping bag. We have to recognise that for many people, this is not just about securing accommodation; we have to take a tailored and individual approach to how we help people, with many of them suffering long-term trauma and needing additional support. It is vital that we continue to work with colleagues across the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care in looking at the additional support that will help people to stay off the streets.
Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
The Prime Minister has said that wider society, especially the faith and voluntary sectors, will need to play their part in ending rough sleeping, but voluntary groups such as Woking’s homeless shelter, the York Road Project, are already overstretched and underfunded. How will the Minister ensure that the voluntary sector is supported and funded to end rough sleeping both this year and in future years in the long term?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that important question. He is right that many voluntary groups, including faith groups, have been doing this for many years, with little or, in some cases, no funding. Many have been driving national fundraising campaigns, many have been crowdfunding, and especially as we get closer to Christmas, many will be asking their members, their congregation and their supporters to campaign and donate. What we are doing with this national drive is bringing together different resources and perspectives to share those best practices and learning, and looking at how we can unlock more progress by building an alliance and healthy coalitions. As I mentioned, this issue will not be solved by the Government alone; it is also about working with groups that have a long history in this area and ensuring that they are adequately supported. That is one of the areas we will be looking at.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Over the years we have worked incredibly hard in York, across multiple agencies, to end rough sleeping by looking at the holistic needs of people who were out on the streets. I am pleased to say that we have cracked that nut. However, we have a challenge in the way the funding works for people with no local connection. Will the Minister say a bit more about how we can ensure that such people receive funding in the place where they are choosing to stay and that there is a proper transfer of resources?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important point. It shows that where local councils are working really well to tackle this issue, they are coming together and working with different community groups, faith groups and voluntary organisations. It is that kind of example that we want to learn from and replicate right across the country to address this issue.
With regard to my hon. Friend’s specific question on people who may not have any local connection, we are introducing legislation to provide for a duty to collaborate, and looking at how we can help people who are identified as being at risk of homelessness; identify them earlier so that the right support pathways can be provided to them; and connect them to other services, if the local council cannot support them.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
I welcome the ambition of the Minister—and the Prime Minister—and I hope that she will succeed. The visible signs of homelessness are people sleeping rough on our streets, but in any one day there are 300,000 people sofa surfing who may end up on the streets tomorrow. Anyone who is rough sleeping now will be suffering in their mental and physical health. They may be addicted to drink or drugs, or they may be on the streets because of gambling—every case is unique. As the Minister rightly says, it is not just about putting a roof over someone’s head; it is about building a network of support around them.
There are two things that I would ask. First, we know what works. Housing First works—building a network of support around the person to enable them to rebuild their life. The second issue is those rogue landlords who will exploit vulnerable people. The Minister knows what is coming next. When can we get my Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 in place so that we can stop those rogue landlords exploiting people, and potentially taking much of the money that the Government are offering?
Florence Eshalomi
I commend the hon. Gentleman for the work that he had done on this issue over many years, and the work that he led to push the then Conservative Government on their manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024. I declare that he and I briefly co-chaired the all-party parliamentary group for ending homelessness. We have to work together cross-party to address this really important issue.
The hon. Gentleman knows the principles of Housing First, which involve inclusive, up-front support so that people who have been sleeping rough for a long time can move away from the streets into safe, secure accommodation where they feel valued, listened to and loved—and feel hope—and can look at how they can support themselves, before they go on to independent living. That is a key initiative that many successive Governments have known works, and it is something that we want to build on as we expand it. With regard to his second point, this is an area that, again, is very close to my heart, and it is something for which hopefully he will not have to wait much longer.
Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster) (Lab/Co-op)
My constituency consistently has the highest number of rough sleepers in the country. This is not a statistic that we welcome. I was grateful for the opportunity to attend the Prime Minister and the Minister’s rough sleeping summit today, and to visit The Connection at St Martin’s in my constituency, where I spoke to people who have been sleeping rough and the frontline workers who work every single day to help people off the streets. This sustained funding will make a real difference, and we cannot overestimate the impact that it will have. Will the Minister comment on how local authorities should collaborate in the future on local connection, in relation to how that issue prevents some people from finding a sustainable home, and on the commissioning of detox and recovery services, which have been fragmented for far too long? The fact that these things are so fragmented is holding people back from the recovery that they so desperately need.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for her comments and support. We were able to visit an organisation in Victoria in her constituency a few weeks ago, a fantastic charity called Change Please, to speak to people who have been helped. It offers people who are sleeping rough and facing homelessness an employment opportunity and vital skills so that they can provide for themselves and secure their rent and accommodation. We want such initiatives rolled out across the country, giving people who are sleeping rough and facing homelessness another chance. On her question about people with no local connections, this is an area that many local authorities continue to raise with us. We are having more discussions with them, especially with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. On her question about the funding package, this is an area we will continue to explore. I hope she will continue to engage with Ministry officials on that.
Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)
I invite the Minister to join me on a tour of the beautiful town of Stone in my constituency. As we walk down the high street, she will see the grade II* listed Crown Hotel, which is sadly slowly degrading because the owners are not putting in the investment that is required. To me, the good growth fund sounds like a brilliant opportunity for Stafford borough council to look at compulsory purchasing that building and ensuring that the investment required to bring it back to life is put in. However, we do not have elected mayors in Staffordshire, so how can authorities such as Stafford borough council access this money to deliver growth and investment in our town centres?
Florence Eshalomi
The right hon. Gentleman raises a valid point about areas without mayoral strategic authorities. We are ensuring that we can work with local councils. We continue to engage with areas without mayoral strategic authorities so that they, too, will not lose out on this vital funding. I ask him to continue to engage and ensure that his authority gets that funding.
Several hon. Members rose—
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. I highlighted the fact that, for many people leaving prison, a secure and safe accommodation may not be waiting at the end, so we are looking at working more closely with colleagues in the MOJ and across the prison estate to ensure that people leaving prison go to somewhere safe. The Secretary of State continues to press that with other Cabinet members and it is something we regularly discuss at the interministerial group, where all colleagues come together to discuss that. With regard to her question about reporting and the figures base, I will take that back to officials.
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
Stonepillow is a local charity tackling homelessness on the streets of Chichester. One of its most vital services is the day hubs, where people can engage if they are at risk of, or are experiencing, homelessness, importantly without any judgment. So much of the Government’s previous funding has been crisis funding, but prevention work, as the Minister knows, is a key part of tackling the root causes and cycles of homelessness. If this programme is designed to be locally led, does the Minister see value in encouraging local leaders to direct some of the funding to outreach services such as the day hubs, which are currently working on an annual cycle and do not have the structure to know that they will survive?
Florence Eshalomi
The hon. Member has given a crucial example of where this works well, but, as she says, some charities and other organisations have been working with very little funding. I ask her to engage with her council to ensure that the vital funds that every area will receive are going to the right organisations. I will be happy to provide her with more details in that regard.
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
I welcome the measures that the Minister has announced. However, over the weekend volunteers have reported to me that homeless people from Wrexham, in Wales, are being put up in temporary accommodation over the border in Chester, where they are being exposed to significant drug abuse and similar problems. Housing is devolved, but this matter crosses the border. What work is the Minister doing with the Welsh Government on safeguarding standards of cross-border care, and what funding will flow to Wales as a result of what she has announced?
Florence Eshalomi
My hon. Friend raises the important issue, which comes up often, of out-of-borough placements in temporary accommodation. We continue to discuss that with the devolved Administrations and representatives of other local areas where we are seeing an increase in the number of people being placed out of borough and the pressures that it is causing in local communities. Issues relating to community cohesion fall within my responsibility and I continue to monitor that closely.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
I think that all Members will support these proposals and hope that they succeed, but in order for new plans to be successful, it helps to understand why previous schemes might not have been. Given that last year the national homelessness strategy promised to halve rough sleeping over the course of this Parliament, with an uplift in funding, why does the Minister think that in the year to June this year homelessness was up compared to the previous year, and why is she confident that her plan will do better?
Florence Eshalomi
What we are seeing with this new focus on homelessness is support, from the very top: support from the Prime Minister, who made it his mission, on the steps of Downing Street, to ensure that this country would not continue to watch people sleeping rough. That support is now being backed by crucial funding to help local areas to design schemes to ensure that people come off the streets. However, we are not stopping there, because it is not just about the street and a bed for Christmas; it is about long-term support. The hon. Gentleman referred to what failed, and why homelessness went up. He will find that more people will gravitate towards an area where a project or initiative has been successful. We are trying to ensure that there is support across the country, so that every area is helped to deal with rough sleeping and homelessness.
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
This year I have convened a taskforce in Stoke-on-Trent with key service providers and people with lived experience to tackle the issue of homelessness for those who experience substance misuse. A particular challenge is enabling them to receive mental health treatment concurrently with drug and alcohol treatment. Does the Minister agree that it is absolutely vital for those providing mental health support to work concurrently with all other service providers to provide a sustainable pathway to recovery for this vulnerable group, and will she take me up on my offer, visit my constituency, and perhaps attend a taskforce meeting?
Florence Eshalomi
My hon. Friend has asked me to visit her constituency and, diary permitting, I will look at that. She is right: many people who are sleeping rough and experiencing homelessness face a number of complex challenges and needs which, in some cases, fall to very stretched mental health provision and substance misuse services across the country. We want to continue that vital partnership work with colleagues and the NHS to ensure that those local services are helping people by providing the right pathway of support before they are housed.
Sarah Pochin (Runcorn and Helsby) (Reform)
While the Minister’s statement is laudable, it seems that her Department is working against the Ministry of Justice by moving in what is clearly a different direction. May I point out that when prisoners—dangerous criminals—are released early on to our streets with no fixed abode, they cannot be tagged? If they are sleeping rough, they cannot be tagged. Will the Minister make it a priority to house those criminals, those early-release prisoners, so that the public can be protected?
Florence Eshalomi
I will take that back to colleagues in the MOJ, but we cannot force anybody into housing. We have to assess people on an individual basis.
Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab/Co-op)
The mission of social justice runs through all faith organisations in this country, and nowhere is that greater than in the work of churches in tackling homelessness and helping to give people a second or third chance in life. It was a privilege to attend today’s rough sleeping summit alongside my hon. Friend and so many faith organisations from across this country. In my constituency, projects such as the Salvation Army, the Light Project and Hope into Action have worked on this agenda for years. Can my hon. Friend reassure us that faith organisations, and the expertise, care and love that they provide in our communities, will be central to the new strategy going forward?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for his comments, and I am pleased to hear that he found the summit inspiring, challenging, meaningful and purposeful as we came together to address rough sleeping. He is absolutely right: faith communities right across the UK have been doing a lot of work in this area, and they have provided charity and support for so many people. In some cases, people have turned away and shunned them. People have harassed and attacked them, but faith communities continue to open their doors. It is vital that we continue to work with faith communities and the voluntary sector in addressing this mission.
Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
One in six care leavers experiences rough sleeping, and last week I met representatives of Step by Step, which supports young people in Dorset and across the south. They told me that young people in supported housing and foyers dread the cliff edge of their 18th birthday because it can mean eviction, as benefits assume that young people are living at home. What will the Minister do with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to specifically support care leavers with the full rate of universal credit, so that they do not end up on the streets at the very moment they achieve adulthood?
Florence Eshalomi
This is a key area that we discuss, and I continue to discuss it with the Minister with responsibility. I hope that we will soon have some additional updates for the hon. Member. It is vital that we recognise that many young people might still not be able to live independently once they hit 18, and it is important that we look at support for them as they transition into adulthood.
Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for her statement, and for the £874 million investment into ending rough sleeping. I particularly welcome this Government giving local leaders the power to make decisions that work best for their own areas. Given the very different character of rough sleeping in Ealing Southall, where the vast majority have no recourse to public funds, will she work with Ealing council and Hope for Southall Street Homeless, based at St Anselm’s church, to give them the funding and powers they need, so that the very unique circumstances for rough sleepers in Ealing Southall can be addressed?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. She is absolutely right: in many inner urban areas, we find a lot of people without recourse to public funds. It is vital that local authorities exercise discretion about local connections and people who have no recourse to public funds, which should not be a barrier to accessing support. Local authorities have to assess individuals based on their needs, including accommodation, and refer them to additional and appropriate services to help them.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
I recently attended a veterans breakfast at HMP Berwyn, the huge prison that serves north Wales and much of north-west England. I was told by representatives of veterans charities that arranging housing across the border—particularly for veterans, many of whom do not have family associations with local authorities—is particularly difficult. Could the Minister look into cross-border issues in relation to prisoner release, particularly across the border between England and Wales?
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
Today’s announcement is a hugely important step forward, as is having a Prime Minister who has put ending rough sleeping at front and centre of the political agenda. As a patron of Doncaster Housing for Young People, I see the difference that wraparound support makes to people who are vulnerable to homelessness. Will the Government ensure that we measure success not just by the number of people helped off the streets, but by how many people are able to rebuild their lives and remain in secure accommodation for the longer term?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point. As I have highlighted, this is not just about giving people a roof over their heads for Christmas; this is about the long-term support, including vital wraparound support, to help people stay off the streets and make a meaningful contribution to society. A number of people who find themselves sleeping rough or in homelessness want to go back and offer their vital employment and training skills, so it is vital that we look not just at a bed for Christmas, but at the support afterwards.
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Your Party)
I absolutely welcome the statement. To achieve the aims the Minister has outlined, could she please end the “intentionally homeless” rule, which is often cruelly applied to people who end up homeless; will she increase the local housing allowance to a realistic level compared with local rents; and, finally, will she intervene to stop housing associations selling off empty properties in areas of high housing stress when they should be housing people in desperate housing need, not sold on the open market?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising those vital points. He is absolutely right about looking at the “intentionally homeless” terminology, which I know colleagues are continuing to look at. I and other Ministers press the matter of local housing allowance with the Treasury, and we will continue to do so. On housing associations and councils selling off some of their empty properties, it is vital that housing associations and councils have the capital funding to bring such properties back into use, and we will continue to work with them on how they manage those properties.
Tom Collins (Worcester) (Lab)
In Worcester, I recently hosted a summit attended by representatives of over 30 organisations, from the national Government to regional agencies and authorities, and all the way to local charities and churches, which all pledged to work together to end rough sleeping in Worcester. One outcome of that summit was that it was clear that we need not only more resources, which are incredibly welcome; we also need to change the way of working. When people are affected by long-term ill health or disabilities, or the effects of crime and trauma, they need holistic support delivered relationally. This cuts across all Government Departments and services. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we might roll out, across Government, a change that wraps around people?
Florence Eshalomi
It seems as though my hon. Friend jumped the gun and held his own summit before we did at No. 10 today! It is good to hear about the lessons learned there. It sounds similar to what happened at the No. 10 summit, where organisations, charities, civic society, local leaders, local authorities and businesses all came together to make a pledge to work towards resolving this issue. It is vital that we learn lessons from such summits, and I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.
Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)
I really recognise the Minister’s description of councils jumping through hoops to access a patchwork of funding pots. That is certainly the case for Mid Sussex district council, which was successful in accessing central Government money to buy temporary accommodation that is providing absolutely vital homes in our district. However, when it comes to regenerating Burgess Hill town centre, it does not matter whether it is a Conservative or a Labour Government; we have been unsuccessful in accessing levelling-up funding, and last week Burgess Hill town council wrote to me about its not receiving any Pride in Place money. Will the Minister visit Burgess Hill to see the work that we are doing?
Florence Eshalomi
It is good to make sure that I am getting out of south London, so I will look—diary permitting—at coming to see that work, which is right and important. This Government are removing some of the ringfence that comes with the vital funding that councils need. I hope the hon. Member’s council will be successful in the new round.
Kirsteen Sullivan (Bathgate and Linlithgow) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Minister for her statement, and indeed this Government for their willingness to grasp the nettle in order to end rough sleeping and homelessness. I am grateful that she mentioned temporary accommodation and the wider impact, particularly on children, of not having somewhere to permanently call home. The number of children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland has risen by 22% since 2022, despite the Scottish Government declaring a housing emergency in 2024. What conversations has she had with the Scottish Government about how, if both Governments are to be successful in meeting their goals of ending child poverty, they are tackling the number of families languishing in temporary accommodation?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point. It is really sad to see that increase of 22%, and it is a shame that no SNP Members are here as we try to hold their Government to account. We will continue to press the devolved Administrations, and work to closely with them, to ensure that no child is left behind.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister very much for her statement. It is good to hear that her voice has recuperated after Thursday’s debate on Black Lives Matter.
When it comes to the £432 million that has been allocated, churches across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland do lots of work for homeless people, including in Northern Ireland. The Salvation Army that operates in my constituency of Strangford operates across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as do veterans charities. In other words, the charities that work in Northern Ireland and here do the same work. What can be done to ensure that charities working in Northern Ireland can also receive some of this help, and will the Minister give an undertaking to work with the Minister for Communities in the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure that delivery can happen across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Florence Eshalomi
It is always a pleasure to take a question from the hon. Gentleman, and I thank him for raising the vital work in his constituency and across Northern Ireland. This funding is new money, and an additional part of it will be agreed in the Budget process with the Treasury. He will be aware that, as part of the normal Barnett consequentials, this will apply to all the devolved Administrations, so they will also receive the additional funding.
Steve Race (Exeter) (Lab)
I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am very proud patron of Exeter’s local homelessness charity, St Petrock’s. I was very grateful for the opportunity to join the Minister this morning at the No. 10 rough sleeping summit to set out Exeter’s experiences, as we have one of the highest and increasing levels of rough sleeping in the country. The Prime Minister made the point that we need to treat people as people, not as numbers. That is absolutely the way of local charities, like CoLab and St Petrock’s, which know these people individually, and they should lead the way. Does the Minister agree that statutory services, like the NHS and the Prison Service, really need to step up and come on this journey with us, too?
Florence Eshalomi
It is good to see that many local areas are sharing their experience of dealing with this matter. We have to be honest: a person sleeping rough costs the taxpayer on average about £14,000 a year in public service use, so it is really important that we are working across different Departments. This is not just an issue for MHCLG. There has to be a whole-of-Government approach, and I am really pleased that we have a strong interministerial group to address this.
David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)
Having worked for our local YMCA in Stoke-on-Trent for nearly two decades before entering this place, this issue is personal to me, so I warmly welcome the statement. I was also so pleased to attend the homelessness summit at No. 10 earlier today. At that summit, the Prime Minister rightly talked about seeing people—getting to know their names—and not treating them as numbers and statistics. This is about giving people what we all need in life: it is about love, hope and dignity. We have heard today about the important role played by the voluntary sector. Does the Minister agree that voluntary and community sector partners are absolutely critical to getting this right, as they are they are rooted in the communities they serve? Can I offer her a visit to meet some of our fantastic organisations up in Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for the expertise and knowledge he brings to these matters, and for some of the comments he shared with me today about how we can address them. He is absolutely right about the work led by many voluntary and charity groups right across the country, working hand in hand regardless of which Government are in control. These groups continue to work with people who, in some cases, society has said are too hard to reach. They are not hard to reach; we just do not know how to reach them.
Sean Woodcock (Banbury) (Lab)
In the Thames valley, as with much of the south-east, the key driver of homelessness is high house prices. Many of the measures announced today and over recent months, while welcome, are focused in areas with mayors. In the south-east, however, devolution has stalled, meaning that some of these levers will not be available. Can I urge the Minister and the Secretary of State, who was sitting next to the Minister earlier, to get on with delivering devolution across the south-east so that we can tackle the issue of homelessness in areas with high house prices, including the Thames valley?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. He is right: this is our devolution revolution, and we are working hard to ensure it happens across the country.
Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) (Lab)
One person sleeping rough is one person too many, but recently published figures show that 793 people have been left to sleep on the street in Glasgow this year alone. I agree with the Minister’s assessment that the best way to tackle this is with properly empowered and properly resourced local government. Will she restate and expand on the Prime Minister’s offer to work with the Scottish Government to empower local governments, so that together we can ensure that no one is left to sleep rough in Glasgow or anywhere else in the country?
Florence Eshalomi
That was a key statement from the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and me, as the Minister with responsibility for this area. We have to work across the aisles, we have to work with devolved nations and we have to work with charities and businesses. A range of people at that summit today were stepping up to that mantra, and it is important that our local authority leaders take on that challenge.
Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)
I applaud both the Minister’s ambition to get to zero rough sleeping and the money on the table to get there, but does she agree that the key to achieving that objective is the Government, councils and third sector organisations working together to provide a pathway off the streets into sustained accommodation, with support on every step of that journey for the homeless person? Will she join me in paying tribute to Porchlight in my constituency, which has been working across Kent over the past 50 years to get rough sleepers off the street? It does fantastic work with the NHS and St Edmund church to support rough sleepers in Dartford.
Florence Eshalomi
I join my hon. Friend in supporting Porchlight’s 50 years of work. May it continue with that support for many more years. He is right that we need that wider programme, working with different organisations, groups, charities, faith groups, civic society and businesses to look at that long-term, tailored support to help people off the streets.
Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Minister for her statement. As someone who worked for a homeless charity, the wonderful Streets2Homes in my constituency of Harlow, this statement and this Government’s ongoing commitment to tackling rough sleeping are hugely important to me. The Minister has recognised the importance of the charity and voluntary sector to tackling rough sleeping in some of the answers she has given so far. That is not just Streets2Homes, but organisations such as Open Road, which helps to tackle alcohol addiction in Harlow. Often the funding for the VCS is sporadic, not long term and postcode dependent. What will the Minister do to ensure that brilliant charities such as Streets2Homes and Open Road get the long-term support and funding they need to tackle rough sleeping and the causes of rough sleeping?
Florence Eshalomi
It is always good to see my hon. Friend from Harlow recognising the many charities across his constituency. Many charities and voluntary groups right across the country are working on this important area. The hon. Gentleman and other Members will have seen many organisations saying that they wanted certainty in that funding. I hope that this increased funding will give those organisations that certainty, ensuring that this work continues not just up to Christmas, but after Christmas. This is a key commitment from the Prime Minister, and we will honour it.
Representation of the People Bill: Contingencies Fund Advance
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(2 weeks ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
I hereby give notice of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s intention to seek approval from HM Treasury for advance expenditure totalling £2,800,000.
This request follows the passage of the Representation of the People Bill, which is currently before Parliament and which the Government expect to receive Royal Assent by spring 2027.
The funding for this work has already been provided through the Department’s spending review settlement and does not represent new or additional spending. Approval for expenditure in advance of Royal Assent is required to enable the Department to commence essential digital development activity to implement the Bill’s provisions, specifically the manifesto commitment to extend the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds. Deferring this work until after Royal Assent would compress delivery timescales and increase the risk of delays to implementation.
The proposed expenditure will support the development of the digital infrastructure required to implement the legislation. This includes a secure service enabling eligible young people to register to vote using data held by the Department for Education as part of appropriate identity checks. It will also support development of the wider systems required to implement the reforms, including electoral management systems, the citizen-facing service and electoral registration officer portal functionality. The advance will allow this work to progress alongside the Bill’s passage through Parliament, reducing implementation risk and supporting timely delivery. This will help ensure the necessary systems are in place to provide local government with an efficient and resilient mechanism for processing applications and maintaining electoral registers.
Parliamentary approval for additional capital of £2,800,000 for this new service will be sought in a supplementary estimate for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £2,800,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.
[HCWS406]
Black History Month
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(2 weeks ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Black History Month.
It is a great pleasure and honour to open this debate on Black History Month at such an important and timely moment. This is the third such debate in Government time, and follows the persistence of Members in applying for and securing Adjournment and Westminster Hall debates to ensure that black British stories are appropriately recognised in this House.
In particular, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare), who led no less than three such debates in the last Parliament. I was delighted that, as a Minister, she delivered the first ever Government-led Black History Month debate in 2024. I praise her persistence in ensuring that this debate is today given the time in the Chamber that it deserves—and not just because she now leads the Committee that scrutinises my ministerial brief. I recommend that Members read her excellent speech from two years ago. It would be remiss of me not to correct the record by saying that Nigerian jollof is the best jollof, but I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to her fellow Ghanaian, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who was the special projects co-ordinator at the Greater London Council, and who first recognised Black History Month back in 1987.
Back then, just 39 years ago, there were only three black Members of Parliament on these Benches: the late Bernie Grant, Lord Paul Boateng and, of course, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott). Although black Members still face challenges today, I honour and recognise the courage it would have taken to enter this House just a generation ago. I am sure that many of us will see that it is sometimes difficult for me and other black Members to imagine ourselves here without the trailblazing work that they did to make our path to the Commons possible.
In particular, I express my gratitude to my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. I was just six years old when she was elected. I remember the quiet hope I felt in watching TV and seeing her in Parliament—to see that, yes, a black woman can have that voice, and that we do not have to stand by when decisions are made to us and not by us. That gave me the confidence to stand for public office as a local councillor in the borough where I grew up and later for the London Assembly, and to be the first black MP to represent Vauxhall, and now Vauxhall and Camberwell Green. I am delighted to sit on these Benches and see her represent her constituents as the Mother of the House.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I commend the hon. Lady for all that she does. I have no doubt that she will speak about her faith, which has been the strength of her character and personality. That is something I recognised when I came to this House and got to know her. I commend her for her leadership in taking on those challenges, as I commend all the other MPs.
In our communities back home in my Strangford constituency, a number of people are from different countries across the world. They add to the culture and character of our constituency, and they work and do their bit. This debate gives us all a chance to say thank you, so I say thank you to the hon. Lady and to all my constituents in Strangford, who welcome people with ability and talent to come and work, live and thrive in this country.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention—I am going to need some divine intervention from the good Lord so I do not lose my voice for the rest of this debate, so I appreciate it. He is right to commend the talent and diversity right across the UK, and the difference that those communities make by enriching UK life. Many of them share that special area of faith.
Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)
I really do hope my hon. Friend’s voice holds out for this very important debate. Historic England’s blue plaque scheme rightly recognises notable Britons, but very few of the plaques are for prominent black Britons, and even fewer can be found outside London. That is why I have applied for John Kent, believed to be Britain’s first black police officer, to have a plaque in my Carlisle constituency, where he served in the 1830s and 1840s. Does the Minister agree that plaques like that for John Kent—if I am successful—are so important in ensuring that our black history is recognised right across our country?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. It is good that English Heritage is considering that plaque—probably one of the most northern such plaques outside London. It is important that we recognise the rich contribution of many black Britons right across the UK. I hope that she will be successful in her pursuit of the plaque.
The theme of this year’s Black History Month debate is “Honouring Our Communities”, which gives us the opportunity to recognise people from black communities up and down the country who work every day to make their area and our society better. They are people who start a business, mentor young people or volunteer their time to help run a community space, and whose contributions too often go unrecognised or underappreciated.
Although Black History Month is about celebrating black Britons who have delivered outstanding achievements across society, who have helped to forge the country and who are here today through their visibility, it is also about recognising people in all parts of the country who may not make the news nationally, but who everyone in their neighbourhood knows. These are people like Lorna Jackson MBE. Coming to England aged five, Lorna went on to be an educator for nearly 50 years and a headteacher for 25 years. Today, she continues to serve a diverse community in east London. They are people like Claudia Jones, a Trinidad and Tobago-born activist and journalist who was granted asylum in the UK after facing political persecution in the US.
In 1958, Claudia Jones founded the West Indian Gazette close to where I grew up in Brixton. The West Indian Gazette is often referred to as the first black newspaper in Britain. After the race riots of 1958, she organised the first Caribbean carnival in the UK, to coincide with the annual tradition in Trinidad, but as London is definitely a lot colder than Trinidad in January, the carnival was held at St Pancras town hall. It was a predecessor of Notting Hill carnival, which started in 1966 and continues to be a true celebration of culture and heritage to this day—thankfully in August and not in winter!
My hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) highlighted blue plaques. I was honoured to attend the unveiling of the English Heritage blue plaque dedicated to Claudia Jones three years ago, on 5 October 2023, outside a terraced house in my Vauxhall constituency that Jones called home for nearly four years—her longest place of residency in London.
Dawn Butler (Brent East) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that Nubian Jak does an amazing job in ensuring that black pioneers are recognised all around the country with blue plaques?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. I praise the efforts of Nubian Jak and Jak Beula’s work across not just London but the UK in recognising black Britons and their achievements.
In the face of barriers, both conscious and subconscious, black Britons have driven lasting, positive change in every community: change that has profoundly shaped the arts and culture of this country, that has made our politics more responsive and more representative, and that reminds us time and again that Britain’s historical and present diversity is a strength—something not to be torn down, but to be cherished and invested in.
When we speak about honouring our communities, we are talking about the individuals across Britain who made them. Our national story is incomplete without the story of Mary Seacole, whose statue stands proudly in the gardens of St Thomas’ hospital just over Westminster bridge. That powerful landmark in my constituency continues to remind me of the values and aspirations that I came to this House to represent.
Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster) (Lab/Co-op)
I hope that my hon. Friend has the chance for some refreshment because I am a bit concerned about her cold. Our constituencies have so much in common, and I consider her a really good friend. She speaks about Mary Seacole, who also spent many of her days in Soho Square in my constituency. Given the theme of this Black History Month, I also want to reflect on the blue plaques before we move on. I am very proud to represent a place where Ottobah Cugoano, an anti-slavery campaigner, lived, in Pall Mall. Over Black History Month, I will be spending time telling that story of his campaigning and ensuring that it is well recognised. On the incredible culture we need to remember during Black History Month, I also want to remember Winifred Atwell, the first black artist to have a No. 1 single, who lived in Mayfair in my constituency. It is a real honour to represent such a diverse constituency with such a proud history of black Londoners and black British people. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the testimony she brings to this debate—and I hope she has been able to have a lot of water during my intervention!
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my constituency neighbour and want to recognise the many black Britons across not just London, but right across the UK who continue to be celebrated and remembered by hon. and right hon. Members from across the House. I felt immense pride at being able to choose the statue of Mary Seacole as the backdrop for my entry to the 40% Project last year, which photographs female MPs in recognition of the progress we have made towards gender parity in this House.
This year’s theme feels especially relevant to the Windrush generation—so embedded in the fabric of black British history. Their legacy is not only the work they did, but in the communities they nurtured, the opportunities they created and the generations they inspired. Through the Windrush Day grant scheme, places across the country are telling stories in their own words, helping to ensure they are remembered and passed on. Their courage, perseverance and determination opened the doors for future generations, and that legacy continues to enrich our shared national history.
But the Windrush stories also tell us that we cannot ignore the struggles we still face today. Black Britons still face deep systemic challenges every day, and although this Government are committed to tackling racial inequality and racism, it is our local communities who are on the frontlines. We need only glance online to see the racist rhetoric that has sadly been normalised. If anyone does not believe this, we just need to look at the racism—and let’s call it what it is—that my hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Sagal Abdi-Wali) faced after she was announced as the candidate in the recent by-election. This type of politics has no place in our democracy, and I hope the whole House will join me in condemning it. Thankfully, my hon. Friend was undeterred and went on to win resounding support from her community, and I welcome her again to her rightful place on these Benches.
I want to praise the Leader of the Opposition for her comments during her conference speech. We can disagree about things in society, but we should never normalise questioning someone’s loyalty or nationality based on the colour of their skin. We see the horrific consequences of this in the news far too often, and I want to take a moment to recognise and remember Jason Arday. His tragic death must be a call to action for all of us. I worked with Jason when I led as the project manager at the Runnymede Trust. Jason was one of the youngest board members.
Dawn Butler
Professor Arday has touched so many of us, and I will also refer to him in my speech. I thank my hon. Friend for ensuring that his name will be remembered in this place in perpetuity.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my hon. Friend and Members who were able to join Jason’s family at the tribute organised by my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Clapham and Brixton Hill (Bell Ribeiro-Addy). Unfortunately, I was not able to make that.
Just this week, the comedian Munya Chawawa described the racism and homophobia that he and some of the cast members from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” faced at the Chichester Festival theatre during the production’s six-week run. He said:
“I think I saw more”
racism
“in those six weeks than I have actually seen across my entire lifetime, which is just an insane concept…Some of you heard we had to cancel a show because one of our cast members was attacked just before the show—that is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
The Minister will know that Munya Chawawa’s experience took place in my constituency. Chichester Festival theatre has been supporting the cast after they came forward and explained the racism that they saw. Munya also spoke about a “pipeline of hatred” that people are seeing on their screens and in their algorithms; it is shifting the Overton window and letting people think that things like that are okay when they are absolutely not. Does she agree that we need to call out the far-right rhetoric that is being pushed on to our teenagers’ social media screens, in order to protect people across the country who dedicate their life to creating wonderful art?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Member; I know that she has been in touch with many of the cast members of that play and the Chichester Festival theatre. She is right that we have to ensure that we as parliamentarians, as a society, and as community groups do not allow this to be normalised, and think it is okay in 2026, in modern Britain. We can disagree on many things, but it is the responsibility of all of us in this Chamber, the Government and society to ensure that everyone is safe and able to live freely, and I want to be clear that the Government will not sit on their hands and watch this hatred thrive. In March, my Department published a cross-Government social cohesion plan, “Protecting What Matters”, which sets out more than 90 policy recommendations and commitments to improve cohesion, including measures to further tackle hate and inequality in everyday life.
Throughout the United Kingdom’s history, we have overcome adversity by coming together and showing that we have so much more that unites us than divides us. We showed that exactly 50 years ago with the passing of the Race Relations Act 1976, a landmark piece of legislation protecting the rights of all of us to live free from discrimination, and the 1965 Act, which built the foundations of equality.
History demands that, just as we celebrated the victories of previous generations, each of us must stand up for what is right in our time. That same unity remains our greatest defence. We must stand together against forces attempting to divide us, and must ensure that we all continue to be heard. I hope that Members will agree that there is a lot more that we can do, but united we are stronger. I commend this debate to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
It is a pleasure to speak in today’s debate on Black History Month and follow some incredible contributions from the Minister, the shadow Minister and the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra). I thank the Government for ensuring that the debate takes place in Government time, as that is a clear indication of just how important the subject is.
Britain’s black communities have enriched the social fabric of the United Kingdom, adding vitality to our streets, shops, frontline services and culture throughout the country. We would be a poorer, less dynamic, less exciting and less colourful country had individuals not boarded ships such as the HMT Empire Windrush and made Britain their home. As the Minister acknowledged, Black History Month has been marked for 39 years and when it was first celebrated, there were just three black MPs. Its purpose is to remember those who came before—as the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston said, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us—but it also looks to the future to address the systemic issues that our black communities still face. In Chichester and throughout the country, we owe our black communities so much, yet, in truth, society has let them down badly and continues to do so. The lives of far too many people are still blighted by prejudice, discrimination and inequality.
I thank the Minister for raising the case that Munya Chawawa has brought into the light this week. He is an actor, comedian and social commentator, and his social commentary about his experience in the past six weeks in Chichester has broken my heart. He spoke out about the experience of the cast of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, who have been with us over the past six weeks doing a really cool production—it is one of the best versions that I have ever had the privilege of watching. It is also Munya’s first time taking to the stage—in a Shakespeare play—and it was incredibly inspiring to have kids from the BRIT School come and watch the performance. Munya has established the Black Boys Theatre Club, and it is his ambition to ensure that black children have access to theatre. I watched with delight all these young children talking about how much they had enjoyed watching Shakespeare in Chichester and how cool their first experience of theatre was in my constituency.
Munya spoke about a homophobic attack—it has now been called a hate crime, and an arrest has been made—that caused the show not to go up. When that happened, the rest of the cast spoke about their experiences over the past six weeks of just walking through the city. When they went for a night out in Brighton to get out of Chichester, they experienced racism there. Munya has said that he experienced more racism and xenophobia in six weeks than he had experienced in his entire life. He has been a tireless campaigner against discrimination —he is very good at calling it out and doing so in a comedic way that lots of people identify with; that is why he has such a huge following on social media—and I am really grateful to him for calling it out.
I declare an interest, as a trustee of Chichester Festival Theatre. The theatre has been trying to tackle this issue for years and years, and we have been having a conversation about it with the board. When we invite talented actors to Chichester Festival Theatre, we want them to feel like it is their home. We want them to feel welcome and included, so how do we make the environment around the theatre like that for them? I have been somewhat reassured by the outpouring of love both on social media and in my inbox from people saying, “I had no idea. What can we do?” One of the reflections that the cast shared with the theatre was that they were in the city centre when these things happened, but nobody called them out.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Member for highlighting what happened in her constituency. One of the issues that black people and black Members raise is the fact that it can be continuously tiring when it is only black people highlighting this issue. Does she agree that by raising this issue as a constituency MP, she is shining another light on it?
Jess Brown-Fuller
I appreciate that intervention. It is not the job of those who experience the abuse to be the only ones calling it out. Going forward, we are working as a community to bring voices together so that we can talk about and come up with actions to better support those experiencing abuse. That should not be the job of those experiencing intolerance and abuse day in, day out.
We also need to do some work with the police, whom I have spoken to at length over the last couple of weeks. When I say, “This is happening”, they say, “It was not reported”—well, it was not reported because people get really tired of constantly reporting things and not seeing a change. A lot of the cast members did not share their experience with the theatre before the homophobic attack that caused the show not to go up. It was only then, in a safe space, that they were able to say, “Actually, that resonates with me, because I experienced this when I was out in the city centre. I experienced this when we went out to get food.” They had not reported their experiences to the police, and the onus should not always be on them to do so. We need to have a wider conversation about what businesses and individuals can do in the city.
In truth, it feels like we are going backwards. Somebody said to me the other day, “It does not feel like the Overton window has shifted; it feels like it has fallen out of its frame.” Much of the abuse comes from individuals who are emboldened by the growth and increasing acceptance of the far right on social media, in the press and across other platforms. Those are spaces, often pushed by prominent politicians, that make individuals, particularly young people, believe that certain language and behaviours are acceptable.
Racist abuse and far-right views gain even greater reach when they are associated with political leaders; the algorithm eats those views up and sends them into those spaces. We all have a responsibility to challenge those prejudices and behaviours, especially when we have important political debates about issues such as immigration, in which people too often conflate immigration, race and crime. I for one do not want racism to become normalised once more, or for people to feel that staying silent is easier than standing up for others. We all need to call it out whenever we see it.
Moving forward, it is important that we in this place reflect on the scandals of the past that have left dark scars on our society. From Windrush to Grenfell and the crisis in maternity care, those scandals represent individuals and communities who have been let down, where systemic discrimination has played no small part. Those are individuals whose dignity and rights were disregarded because of failings in the state apparatus. I am proud that the Liberal Democrats are committed to fighting for racial equality, and that means unequivocally condemning racism in all its forms and tackling injustice wherever we see it.
It is a shame that my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) cannot be here today. I see how much abuse he receives online on social media. When he puts up a post about something he is doing to fight for Eastbourne general hospital, someone will write in the comments section, “Deport.” His response to that is, “There are no direct flights to Eastbourne general hospital, so I can’t do that.” I recognise that the proliferation of abuse that is then liked and shared means that his experience as a black MP is totally different from my experience as a white MP. The abuse he receives is off the scale and totally unacceptable.
In the Liberal Democrat election manifesto, we committed to implementing a comprehensive race equality strategy aimed at reducing the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates experienced by black women and eliminating racial disparities in maternal health through a cross-departmental target and strategy. We also want to end the disproportionate use of stop and search and require all police forces throughout the country to adopt ambitious targets for improving the diversity of their workforces. We have also called for the reversal of the voter ID scheme, which disproportionately excludes minorities from democracy, and for all political parties to publish candidate diversity data. We must also tackle discrimination in the use of new technology, beginning with halting the use of facial recognition surveillance, which is much more likely to wrongly identify black people or women.
On criminal justice, it is clear that the immense disparity in different ethnicities in our prison population represents a systemic failing across society. As of this year, 12% of the prison population are black, far exceeding the percentage of the general population. That is underpinned by the fact that black defendants receive on average longer custodial sentences than people of other ethnicities for the same crimes. It is clear that much more needs to be done across the system to begin to address those disparities, particularly on diversity and training in the judiciary. The Liberal Democrats tabled amendments to the Courts and Tribunals Bill in that regard. We must implement a new data strategy across the criminal justice system to ensure that capacity meets demand and that we understand the needs of all users, especially victims, vulnerable people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Black History Month is a vital opportunity to celebrate the immense contribution that black people make to our lives in Britain. There are those who ask why we need Black History Month; I hear that being said. That is the same argument used by people who say, “Why do we need Pride? Have we not got there?” No, we absolutely have not. What happened in Chichester just this week is a prime example of why it is all the more important to keep highlighting these things year on year. As the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston said, progress is not linear. It is very easy to slip backwards, and we all need to be alive and alert to that. We need to ensure that we represent all the wonderful qualities that we want our country to represent, not those that do not represent what we feel.
We must carry on celebrating Black History Month, because we have an immense contribution to celebrate, but it also provides the chance to recognise the scale of the challenge we still face. I am very grateful to the Leader of the House for granting time for this important debate.
Private Parking Code of Practice
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(2 weeks, 2 days ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
Today I have laid before Parliament the private parking code of practice, marking the Government’s first step in our commitment to protect drivers across England, Scotland and Wales.
Everyone knows a story of someone getting ripped off through huge charges, often because they have been a couple of minutes late back to their car, or because of something entirely out of their control. The new code will give drivers a range of rights and protections to make these unfair practices a thing of the past.
Drivers will now have a guaranteed minimum five minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave without facing a penalty. The maximum charge will be capped at £60 if paid within a fortnight, and frozen at £100 if not. But for honest mistakes, like forgetting a permit, charges will now be limited to £20.
These are just a few examples of the dozens of new rights and protections being brought in for drivers. Operators who fail to comply will now face losing their access to DVLA data to pursue payment.
The code has been laid after receiving over 4,000 consultation responses, which showed drivers want fairer appeals, and independent oversight of the private parking industry. It will now be subject to the statutory parliamentary process set out in the Act. Parliament has a 40-day scrutiny period. The code will come into force 21 days from the point it is issued and replace the industry’s existing sector single code.
The Government will publish a further consultation as soon as possible which will include debt recovery and cover the remaining topics raised by the Competition and Markets Authority in their open letter sent to my Department in April 2026. We are committed to continue to set the bar at the right level and take further steps as necessary, based on sound evidence.
We are also today announcing plans to ban car clocking—the practice of altering a vehicle’s mileage. This will be done through the addition of odometer tampering to schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Anyone who buys a second-hand car should have the confidence of knowing the mileage has not been tampered with.
This Government know that if we are to give people hope again, we must show that politics can work for them. Through these everyday fixes for drivers, we are taking on daily frustrations to make life that bit easier.
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Building Safety Regulation Part K: Call for Evidence
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
The Building Safety Regulator will later this month publish a call for evidence on part K of the Building Regulations and approved document K, the statutory guidance on how to comply with the requirements in the regulations. The call for evidence will seek views on gaps, issues and potential improvements across part K and its associated guidance.
The BSR must keep under review the safety of people in or about buildings in relation to risks regarding buildings; and the standard of buildings. It puts residents at the heart of its work and promotes higher standards and culture change in the built environment.
Part K of the building regulations sets requirements to protect building users from falls, collisions and impacts in and around buildings. It covers requirements for features in all buildings, such as stairs, ladders, handrails, ramps, guarding windows, doors, glazing and vehicle barriers. Approved document K provides the statutory guidance on how to comply with these requirements.
This call for evidence seeks views on gaps, issues, or improvements that could be made to part K and its associated guidance. This follows Government commissioned research published in October 2025, which gathered objective, evidence-based information on domestic stair design, including step dimensions, consistency, and handrail provision, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evidence-to-support-potential-changes-to-approved-document-k-guidance-on-domestic-stairs
I encourage all interested parties to respond to the call for evidence. The evidence received will help inform future consideration of part K and approved document K, including whether any further changes may be justified.
[HCWS388]
Wildfires: UK-Welsh Government Co-operation
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I start by thanking my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) for securing this important debate.
Wildfires have had a profound impact on communities in Wales and across the UK this year. The scale of the challenge this summer was stark. More than 1,300 wildfires have been recorded across England, and I know that Wales was similarly impacted, resulting in the deployment of around 200 military personnel to south Wales to support the committed frontline crews protecting their communities. At the height of the activity, 11 major incidents were declared in a day across the UK, and some incidents lasted for more than 30 days. That put immense strain on frontline services that were also dealing with other emergencies. We owe immense gratitude to the firefighters, military personnel, local responders, land managers, volunteers and others who worked in difficult and dangerous conditions to protect people, homes, businesses and the natural environment.
Becky Gittins (Clwyd East) (Lab)
In my north-east Wales constituency, we saw the absolute best of community spirit in Halkyn and Windmill, where the community came out to do a post-wildfire litter pick to clear up the area. As the Minister has recognised, their efforts, along with those of firefighters and military personnel, were crucial. My right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) has put forward many ways to improve wildfire responses; does the Minister agree that the response this time also showed the importance of cross-border collaboration in tackling wildfires?
Florence Eshalomi
My hon. Friend raises an important point that demonstrates that wildfires cannot be responded to by emergency services alone: it takes the community, the people, voluntary organisations and a number of charities working together to respond. It is important that we have in place an action plan that includes cross-border and cross-Government work on responses.
Nick Thomas-Symonds
The Minister is absolutely right. If we look at the wildfire management in Torfaen, the military personnel were deployed by the UK Government and the Secretary of State for Wales. Obviously, areas such as land management are devolved to the Welsh Government. The Minister is absolutely right about the number of agencies, but does she agree that we need a cross-Government plan to make sure we get that co-ordination right?
Florence Eshalomi
I will come on to that point, but I agree with my right hon. Friend. One of the reasons that the Prime Minister is calling the summit is to address that issue and to consider the national capability to respond. We want to make sure that we do not have a situation where we have more wildfires.
Liz Saville Roberts
My understanding is that North Wales fire and rescue service commissioned the provision of military aid to the civil authorities, and the Welsh Government backed it up. We need clarity, but the fundamental point is that it appears that across the United Kingdom, we have a real shortage of trained pilots and the equipment they need to bring water to fire situations in remote places. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s response to that point.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the right hon. Lady for raising that important point; those are key areas. It is about making sure we have the right people across the table when the summit is held. The summit cannot just be dictated by Whitehall; we must work on the ground with the devolved nations to make sure that the key people are around the table so that we can get the best solutions going forward.
Although fire and rescue policy is devolved, so each devolved Government is responsible for arrangements in their nation, the impacts and challenges of wildfires remain constant. We work in tandem as we face shared challenges. Tackling wildfires is a good example of where practical co-operation, drawing on mutual aid and specialist capability, sharing learning and co-operating on planning for complex incidents, can make a real difference. We saw the value of such co-ordination in Wales in the development of the national wildfire capability pilot earlier this year. The pilot established six specialist teams, with vehicles, equipment and expert training, that are ready to be deployed in response to significant incidents. Not only do the two teams from south Wales form part of this programme, but their expertise has been instrumental in increasing resilience across the UK.
Despite the advances, the severity of this year’s incidents exposes areas where arrangements must and can improve, including cross-border co-ordination, consistent data, forecasting public warnings, and the way that operational learning is shared. Aerial firefighting is another area that we need to re-examine, including how we most effectively utilise capability across the four nations. This is vital in ensuring that firefighters on the ground get the best possible support when the terrain, scale or accessibility makes their jobs especially difficult. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen and other Members have mentioned, the Government will hold a wildfire summit this autumn in response to these challenges, bringing together fire chiefs, the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Fire Brigades Union, and other key organisations, to turn the lessons from 2026 wildfires into action. It is vital to ensure that key organisations, local constituents and Members of Parliament are involved in that summit.
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will soon be publishing a report. When it comes to who will be in the room come that wildfire summit, will the hon. Member give me an undertaking that it will not only be the organisations, but the private individuals, the gamekeepers, land managers, farmers and shepherds, who are very often the first line of response? Can she ensure that their voices will be heard at the same time as all the organisations?
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the right hon. Member for that point. He may be aware that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs have established joint governance to develop a wildfire action plan. They will be working to look at the attendees. I am sure that the hon. Member will make his representations, and I will pass those on to colleagues.
The Government are determined to support those on the frontline by ensuring that they have the capability, support and partnership they need to meet future challenges. We must act to reduce the risk of wildfire, improve readiness, strengthen frontline response and support communities to become more resilient. I know that Welsh colleagues will be holding their own summit later this month and we will continue to work and share insight with the Welsh Government, working together to enhance future readiness. The plan for the national wildfire summit is to look at the full risk cycle: prevention, readiness, response, recovery and adaptation. Work is already under way to improve forecasting and risk mapping, develop specialist capability and learn from this summer, ahead of future periods of heightened risk.
Better emergency response is only one part of the answer; wildfire resilience also depends on what happens before a fire starts. That means better forecasting and public information, responsible behaviour, proportionate land management and strong local readiness. Land managers, fire and rescue services, local authorities and local resilience forums all have an important role to play. By working together, they can understand local risk, protect vulnerable places and plan for the recovery as well as the response. By acting on the lessons learned from this year, we can improve readiness, strengthen specialist support, and make sure that Governments and responders share learning that has practical value.
Mr Alex Barros-Curtis (Cardiff West) (Lab)
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) for securing this debate, and to the Minister for giving way. I visited Ely fire station in my constituency and congratulated the firefighters there for their hard work. They asked me whether the summit will look at deterrents as well as prevention—they were in attendance at a fire, but arsonists then restarted the fire, so the firefighters do not feel that the sentencing laws are strong enough. Will the Minister look at that as part of the summit? Prevention is very important, but deterrents for arsonists are also important.
Florence Eshalomi
Just to reassure my hon. Friend and others, the agenda and themes for the summit have not been decided, but I am sure we will want to ensure that hon. and right hon. Members are able to feed in. As I mentioned, MHCLG and DEFRA are working on the joint summit, and there will be many opportunities for Members to feed in and ensure that we get the right people at the summit, and work on the right areas, so that we can get the best outcome.
I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the work of so many people on the ground. I thank the soldiers from the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, the South Wales fire and rescue service and firefighters up and down the country for their help getting the relentless wildfire at Blaenavon under control. At the height of the summer, an emergency alert reached 55 million phones across England and Wales, demonstrating the shared nature of the risk and the importance of ensuring that we work across Governments to make sure out nations are safe.
Nick Thomas-Symonds
Talking about people on the frontline, I am sure the Minister shares my horror that our firefighters did not have the personal protective equipment that they needed. I hope she will pass on to the relevant Minister as a matter of urgency that that is one practical thing that we really need to deal with.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank my right hon. Friend for highlighting that; he will know that the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Fire Brigades Union and firefighters, alongside other organisations and groups, will be at the seminar. I am sure they will make their voices and representations heard loud and clear.
I also want to highlight the two constituents mentioned by my right hon. Friend, Anthony Watkins and Sara Warman, for their work and effort in making sure we continue to work in co-operation with UK Governments including the Welsh Government, looking at shared learning, resilience and ensuring that the right funding is brought forward to address these key areas.
By acting on the lessons learned this year, we can improve readiness. My Department is committed to continuing to work with the Welsh Government and the Governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as fire and rescue partners and communities across the UK. In conclusion, I once again thank my right hon. Friend for securing this debate and bringing the issue to the House.
Nick Thomas-Symonds
I have one final point. As I said in my speech, there is also an issue around how the UK Government calculated how much money went to the North York Moors National Park Authority for recovery from a peat fire, which is also the situation in Torfaen. Will the Minister undertake to speak to ministerial colleagues about this? I have written to ask how exactly that was calculated. I am sure that is something I could look at putting to the Welsh Government, so will the Minister undertake to secure a response for me?
Florence Eshalomi
I will take that away and write back to my right hon. Friend with further details. He will be aware that MHCLG also announced a £97 million upgrade to the national resilience assets, including equipment and national wildfire response capability pilots, with specialist firefighters, equipment and training positioned right across the UK, but I will come back to him in writing on that specific point.
I pay tribute to everyone who has responded across the UK and in Wales this summer, as well as the communities impacted on the frontline. Their experience must shape what we do next, and our focus must now be on applying those lessons before the next wildfire season.
Question put and agreed to.
Homes for Ukraine: Funding
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
Over the past four years, the Government have remained committed to supporting Ukrainians fleeing Putin’s illegal and unjustified full-scale invasion. Through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, we have welcomed over 181,000 Ukrainians to the UK. Our commitment to Ukraine and its people remains steadfast, as the Prime Minister made clear last month in making Kyiv the destination for his first international visit.
The Government are sincerely grateful to sponsors and hosts who have opened their homes to those fleeing from the invasion. They have played a truly pivotal role in helping Ukrainian families to find safety, stability and community in the UK. The response across the last four years reflects the generosity and solidarity of the public in providing sanctuary to those in need. In addition to sponsors and hosts, councils and voluntary and community sector organisations have been central to the strength and effectiveness of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Since the launch of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has provided two core types of funding to support those seeking sanctuary in the UK. Local authorities receive the Homes for Ukraine tariff—a payment made in respect of each arrival to meet their costs associated with the delivery of the programme. Sponsors and hosts can also claim thank you payments as a gesture of appreciation for their generosity in opening their homes. To date, the Government have provided over £1.81 billion in funding for the scheme.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme has evolved from an initial emergency response into a more established programme. The Government are therefore making changes to Homes for Ukraine funding to ensure that the scheme remains sustainable, so that we can continue to support those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Changes to Homes for Ukraine funding
The following changes will take effect from 1 January 2027:
Where sponsors/hosts are claiming thank you payments from local authorities, the Government will reimburse local authorities via the Homes for Ukraine sponsor thank you grant at a rate of £100 per month, per household, irrespective of how long a guest has been on the Homes for Ukraine programme. This is a reduction from the current rate of £350 per month. All thank you payments made by local authorities during the Ukraine permission extension visa period will be reimbursed at a rate of £100 per month for a maximum of 18 months. Sponsors/hosts and guests are encouraged to consider what this change means for them. If a sponsor/host is looking to end sponsorship, then they could explore moving on to a more formal rental arrangement. Advice on renting a room in their home (including through the Government’s rent a room scheme) or renting out a property is available on gov.uk.
The Homes for Ukraine tariff will decrease from £5,900 to £3,300 for arrivals after 1 January 2027 to ensure this funding remains affordable. This funding can continue to be used flexibly to meet local and individual needs, and remains at a sustainable level that continues to meet core administrative costs, while still enabling investment in rematching and homelessness prevention activity.
Funding for the most vulnerable arrivals—unaccompanied minors—will remain at the current levels, in recognition of the complex needs and safeguarding requirements associated with unaccompanied minors. Local authorities will continue to receive multi-year tariff funding via the Homes for Ukraine eligible minor grant, which remains at £10,500 per arrival in year one and £6,100 for subsequent years.
Implementation and next steps
The Government will be writing to sponsors/hosts, local authority leaders and chief executives, and colleagues in the devolved Governments, to set out the planned changes to Homes for Ukraine funding.
Updated guidance will also be published on gov.uk. This guidance sets out the changes and what they mean in practice, including arrangements for local authority quarterly claims.
[HCWS351]
Residential Buildings: Safety Remediation
Florence Eshalomi Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) for securing this important debate.
I thank all hon. Members who are here this morning. Nine years on, a number of them have rightly raised the tragic incident at Grenfell Tower. As a London MP, I vividly remember the night of 14 June 2017. My son had been born a week earlier, on 7 June. Watching TV throughout the night was like watching a horror film with flames and black pieces, not knowing that the black pieces coming out of the building were people jumping. It is right that this House is united in continuing to scrutinise the pace of remediation and the support available to those affected.
Many residents across the country have lived with uncertainty about the safety of their homes, their financial security and their ability to move on with their lives. We recognise the impact that building safety can have not only on people’s homes, but on their wellbeing and peace of mind. Nine years on from Grenfell, we have to be honest and say that there can be no justification for unsafe buildings remaining unaddressed. Although significant progress has been made, more than 4,000 buildings have been identified as requiring remediation, and too many residents continue to face the consequences of failures that they did not cause.
That is why this Government are committed to speeding up remediation, ensuring that those responsible bear the cost of making buildings safer, and strengthening protections for leaseholders and residents. Our objective is clear: to remove barriers to remediation, speed up delivery and ensure that people can feel safe and secure in their home. Since the launch of the remediation acceleration plan, more than 420 additional buildings over 11 metres have completed cladding remediation through the Government-funded scheme and the developer remediation contract, meaning that some 35,000 more residents are now living in safer homes. The Government have approved £2.1 billion of funding for cladding remediation since the plan was launched and have committed to more than £1 billion to accelerate remediation in the social housing sector.
But we recognise that further action is needed. We are considering how we can go further to protect residents, particularly those who fall outside existing protections, and to ensure that no responsible party can avoid its obligations. That is why we will build on the foundations established by the Building Safety Act through the forthcoming remediation Bill and our wider programme of building safety reforms.
The Bill will provide greater clarity and certainty about which buildings require remediation and the standards that must be met. It will strengthen regulators’ ability to check delay and non-compliance. It will improve routes to recover remediation costs from those responsible and ensure that residents have a pathway to remediation even where responsible entities fail to act or are unable to meet their obligations. Taken together, these reforms will strengthen accountability across the system and help to ensure that buildings are made safer faster.
I turn to some specific issues raised during the debate. The hon. Members for Surrey Heath and for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) raised the issue of PAS 9980. As hon. Members will know, PAS 9980 was developed by the British Standards Institution. The Government sponsored the BSI to review and update it to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and captures best practice, looking at the learnings since it was introduced in 2022.
As the hon. Member for Surrey Heath outlined, the BSI published an update to PAS 9980 yesterday. I do not agree with the hon. Member’s characterisation. PAS 9980 provides an industry-wide accepted methodology to enable qualified and experienced assessors to undertake the fire risk appraisal of external walls. It provides a consistent and proportionate building-specific approach to risk assessments and helps to achieve the right solutions for each building, keeping residents safe while preventing unnecessary and disruptive works. As the update highlights, it has improved the clarity of the structure and usability of PAS 9980, with the aim of achieving greater transparency and consistency by assessors. It does not, however, materially change how risks are assessed, so fire risk appraisals of external walls undertaken using a previous version of PAS 9980 will remain valid. Government remediation programmes require that fire risk appraisals of external walls be undertaken using this methodology.
To further safeguard quality and ensure consistency in assessments, the remediation Bill will mandate how external wall assessments are carried out, to align with our best practice remediation programmes and ensure a nationally consistent approach to remediation work. It will also establish mandatory auditing of fire risk appraisals of external walls in law. This requirement will reinforce trust in both the assessors and the outcomes. I hope that that helps to reassure hon. Members.
Several right hon. and hon. Members rightly mentioned the issue of fire risk assessors. Fire risk assessors perform a critical safety role, and it is essential that they are fully compliant and competent. We have therefore accepted the full recommendation in the Grenfell Tower inquiry phase 2 report for mandatory certifications of fire risk assessors. To meet the recommendation, we intend to bring into law mandatory compliance requirements for fire risk assessors to perform that vital role, subject to parliamentary approval and timescale.
Dame Meg Hillier
I welcome that step, but what the Minister says suggests it is some way off. Can she give some indication of the timescale for getting mandatory licensing in place?
Florence Eshalomi
I agree that many people will continue to question when the fire risk assessors will be in place. The Government recently launched a public consultation on the proposal to establish a fire risk assessor profession with consistently high levels of competency, whereby trust is rebuilt and a strong and diverse pipeline of talent comes forward to ensure that fire safety standards are met. We are currently analysing all the consultation responses, and the Government will publish a full response later this autumn, so hopefully my hon. Friend will not have to wait much longer.
We recognise the additional pressures on building control and fire engineer capacity across the country. We have established the independent building control panel and the fire engineers advisory panel to examine the issues and provide recommendations on strengthening the system. The Government are committed to working with the BSR on long-term reform and exploring options for a more efficient building control system. Any future changes will be developed in consultation with the industry and other stakeholders.
Dame Meg Hillier
We all want to see stronger and better building control, but local authorities have been hollowed out. We have lost a lot of experienced planners and there is not always a pipeline coming through with the necessary experience. Can we lobby the Treasury for support for local government in that respect?
Florence Eshalomi
My hon. Friend will know that I will definitely continue to lobby Treasury colleagues very hard, and any help from colleagues around the House will be helpful. In the meantime, the current system includes a new initiative looking at digital building control programmes. I can confirm that over £45 million has been invested in growing the workforce to help to address the key issue of capacity, streamline the process and support development. More is coming, but a lot more needs to come through the pipeline.
A number of Members, including the hon. Member for Surrey Heath, mentioned the key issue of building insurance and the continuing financial strain felt by so many innocent leaseholders. They see their insurance premiums going through the roof, in some cases paying more than for their mortgages. In the remediation acceleration plan, the Government have committed to working with the insurance industry to explore options to address the insurance challenges faced by residents living in buildings that are undergoing remediation.
To strengthen the evidence base, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched the remediation programme insurance survey, a UK-wide survey of buildings in Government remediation programmes. The findings, first published in July 2026, provide the most comprehensive dataset collected to date on insurance costs, premiums and claims and remediation status across more than 2,000 buildings undergoing remediation. The evidence is informing ongoing engagement with insurers and wider work to understand how insurance costs can better reflect improvements in building safety as remediation progresses. The Financial Conduct Authority is undertaking a short and focused review of the multi-occupancy building insurance market, and the findings will strengthen the evidence base on the next steps.
The Government are also undertaking action to improve transparency and fairness in residential building insurance. We are proceeding with secondary legislation to prevent insurance commissions, which can be opaque and excessive, from being passed on by freeholders and managing agents as freeholders’ expenses, and to replace such arrangements with fair and transparent permitted insurance payments with a fee structure. Alongside that, we will introduce through secondary legislation a new transparency requirement for building insurance, including in respect of the disclosure of the relationships and financial arrangements among landlords, managing agents, brokers and insurers.
Jeremy Corbyn
I am pleased to hear what the Minister just said about looking at the fairness of the whole market for insurance, but the immediate issue is that many of our constituents have for several years paid exorbitant and very excessive insurance costs. This is not their responsibility or fault—they did not install the dangerous cladding or fail to inspect properly. They deserve compensation from the insurance industry for what they have been through, and if that is not forthcoming, the Government should have a default position of backing it up. Our constituents have suffered grievously through this problem.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the right hon. Member for raising that point. He highlighted examples of various developments in his constituency, including Drayton Park and Highbury Gardens, underlining the fact that innocent leaseholders have continued to pay exorbitant fees for many years. It is really important that we get to grips with this, especially for new buildings. I know that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning will be discussing the matter in respect of the national planning policy framework and some other areas, and I will continue to discuss it as well. On the specific issue of backdating, it is important for us to look at clear insurance procurement—the pricing, the cover, the prescribed timeframes for providing information and the mechanism for challenging any future delays.
Together, the measures the Government have outlined are intended to improve transparency, strengthen accountability and help to ensure that residents have a clearer understanding of insurance costs. There is a lot of jargon and hidden figures. We need to make sure that the costs are clear and that when residents challenge them, they get the right information back so that they can assess what they are being asked to pay for.
Jim Shannon
I thank the Minister for her answers; she is giving a comprehensive and detailed response, as I knew she would. Ever mindful that she has been in place for only a short time, I have a specific question about what is happening here compared with the situation back home. We have an outstanding problem with many properties in Belfast. It would be helpful if we were able, perhaps through the Minister, to engage with the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in particular the relevant Minister there, to ensure that what is learned here can be passed on to those back home in the Assembly.
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the hon. Member for raising a valid point about what lessons can be learned from what happens in the UK. As he has outlined, buildings right across the UK need to be safe. Every home needs to be safe; it does not matter where a person lives. I am very open to looking at areas of best practice, which we can share as we develop legislation.
Several Members, including the hon. Member for Surrey Heath, outlined the big issue with EWS1 forms, which has caused many homeowners a great deal of stress. The Government recognise the difficulties in selling and remortgaging homes, and the concerns for residents living in buildings impacted by building safety issues. We have continued to work with major mortgage lenders to improve access to lending for affected buildings and support the functioning of the housing market while remediation progresses.
The hon. Gentleman referred to concerns about the validity of certain EWS1 forms. I can confirm that my Department is aware of those concerns, which relate to a fire engineer who was removed from his professional accrediting body and is, as I understand it, no longer operating in the field. Although I cannot comment on individual cases, it is important to reiterate that the EWS1 form is not an official Government form but an industry tool used by lenders and valuers to help them to understand the remediation status of participating buildings.
My officials continue to engage with the mortgage lending industry to encourage it to take a proportionate approach when using EWS1 forms. The Government consider that lenders should be moving away from the forms, but there is still an over-reliance on them. The hon. Gentleman highlighted an additional bill of £4,500 because of the delay in getting an EWS1 form. We understand that EWS1 forms continue to be used by individual lenders, and the Government will continue to stress loudly that lenders should move away from that requirement.
A number of Members highlighted the issue of cost and who pays for historical remediation. The Building Safety Act puts the responsibility for undertaking, and in most cases paying for, remediation on the building’s landlords, while making it very clear that developers must pay to fix buildings that they have developed or refurbished even if they no longer own them. Courts have new powers to extend liability to associated companies, thereby stopping complex corporate structures being used to dodge responsibility. This was not fair and took a mental toll on many homeowners.
Where a developer cannot be identified or has not yet agreed to pay, public funding is available to address life-threatening cladding risk on residential buildings over 11 metres high, so that no leaseholder in those buildings will face cladding remediation costs. Many holders of qualifying leases are protected in full from non-cladding and interim measures—for example, where the landlord or its group meets the contribution condition or where the property value is below the set threshold.
Other qualifying leaseholders have their costs firmly capped and spread over 10 years, with costs already paid out since 28 June 2017 counting towards the cap. For obvious reasons, in Greater London the cap is £15,000 and across the country it is £10,000. That rises to £50,000 for properties valued between £1 million and £2 million, and to £100,000 for properties valued at more than £2 million.
The hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington mentioned the building safety levy, which will come into force on 1 October and will raise funds to pay for the remediation of cladding on residential buildings where the developer cannot be held responsible or identified. That is a key element for ensuring trust.
Under the work started by the previous Government, 53 developers signed the developer-led remediation contract with the Government. The contract covers more than 2,000 buildings in England that are over 11 metres high and have life-critical fire safety defects. Developers have contributed and committed to pay or fix the matter, at a cost of around £4.2 billion. Any developer that fails to comply with the remediation obligations faces significant commercial consequences, including the imposition of statutory prohibitions, effectively preventing them from building new homes in England. We expect all developers to accelerate their remediation work without compromising safety.
Luke Myer
That is very positive, but of course those are the developers that are willing to engage, and many of them are not. I recently spoke to Carl Harris from Teesside who suffered life-changing injuries when a wall collapsed on him. He has been trying to engage the sector with an innovation he has developed to prevent unfinished walls from collapsing. What more can the Government do to encourage developers who are not already involved to innovate and protect workers and residents?
Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)
Minister, please allow a couple of minutes for the winding-up speech.
Florence Eshalomi
As of April 2026, developers had assessed whether remediation work was required in 94% of their buildings. Despite the progress, there is still a lot to do. Some developers are behind that stretch target and we will continue to engage with them.
The Government remain firmly committed to building a safety regime that is robust, proportionate and protects residents while enabling the delivery of much-needed homes. We have listened to concerns and have already taken decisive steps to strengthen the regulator’s capacity, improve its processes and ensure it is fit for purpose. We will continue to work with the industry, residents and Parliament to ensure that the regulation delivers effectively.
I am grateful for all the points Members have raised and will come back to them on any points I have not addressed, especially where they raised individual constituency cases. I look forward to the ongoing dialogue as we continue to address this really important issue.