Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Snell Excerpts

Wednesday 13th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this very important issue, which might, at a glance, seem quite a small issue but is actually very important in the lives of those disabled children to enable them to lead the life that they want to lead. I agree with him that the provision of changing places can make a real difference to disabled children but also to their carers. I understand that the Department for Communities and Local Government has been working to increase the number of facilities. I would certainly urge relevant building owners to consider installing changing places where they can. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary will be happy to discuss this matter further with my hon. Friend.

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q6. This week, the Rt. Rev. Geoff Annas, the Bishop of Stafford, wrote to the Conservatives on Stoke-on-Trent City Council to plead with them not to cut £1 million out of the homelessness support budget. Does the Prime Minister agree with Bishop Geoff when he says that the measure of society can be found in the way that we treat our vulnerable people? If so, will she join his calls for the city council not to cut its homelessness budget, and will she agree today to fund local government properly so that it can play its part in ending the scourge of homelessness?

[The Prime Minister]

As I said in response to the questions from the Leader of the Opposition, we do not want to see people without a roof over their head. That is why we are working in a number of ways to deal with this issue. It is why we are committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it by 2027. As I also said earlier, a number of announcements have been made in the Budget, and we are now dedicating over £1 billion to 2020 to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. That is across a number of areas; it is £1 billion to deal with this issue and to tackle something that we agree we do not want to see on our streets.