Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on arrangements for sharing intelligence between police forces, local authorities and relevant regulators concerning criminal exploitation associated with supported exempt accommodation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is working with policing and other partners to strengthen the way data is used through improved integration, common standards and clearer national parameters and guidance, while retaining appropriate local decision making and safeguards.
The Government is strengthening the response to the criminal exploitation of vulnerable people in their homes through the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which creates a bespoke offence of cuckooing. This makes it an offence to exercise control over another person’s dwelling without their consent for the purpose of enabling the dwelling to be used in connection with the commission of specified criminal activity.
Effective identification and disruption of cuckooing relies on close partnership working between police, local authorities and safeguarding partners, both to share relevant information lawfully and to ensure vulnerable victims are identified and supported.
The government is also implementing the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act to raise standards and drive out the minority of poor providers taking advantage of the Housing Benefit system whilst providing little or no support to residents. On 15 October the government took the next step in implementing the Act by publishing a consultation on draft regulations, which will close on 10 December. The licensing regulations will be laid early next year following the analysis and consideration of consultation responses. We expect licensing to be fully implemented in 2027/28.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of concentrations of houses in multiple occupation and supported exempt accommodation on the number of incidents of serious crime in the West Midlands; and what guidance her Department provides to police forces on identifying and addressing associated risks.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with policing partners to understand and address the drivers of serious violence, including through programmes such as the Knife Crime Concentrations Fund (KCCF), which supports a targeted, data-led approach to tackling violence in the areas most affected. In addition, the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance for policing (owned by the College of Policing), recognises living conditions such as HMOs as potential indicators of exploitation.
The Department has not, however, undertaken analysis or made a specific assessment of the impact of concentrations of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) or supported exempt accommodation on the number of incidents of serious crime in the West Midlands. Nor does it provide specific guidance to police forces on houses in multiple occupancy and supported exempt accommodation.