Oral Answers to Questions

Marcus Jones Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Portsmouth South) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to ensure that local councils provide adequate support and assistance to single homeless people when they approach their council for help.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

By law, local authorities have a duty to provide advice and information to anyone asking for help. To help them discharge that important duty we have, among other sources of support, funded the National Homelessness Advice Service supporting frontline staff, together with the Help for Single Homeless funding, helping 22,000 people across England by April 2016.

[Mrs Drummond]

Housing is a big issue in my crowded city of Portsmouth and figures show that the number of people in priority-need has increased over recent years. What steps has the Minister taken to ensure that there is good advice and assistance to the homeless?

[Mr Jones]

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

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

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

[Mr Jones]

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

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the local government grant formula in directing funding to areas of need.

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[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in the level of homelessness and rough sleeping since 2010.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

We have invested more than £500 million since 2010 to support local authorities and the voluntary sector to prevent and tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. That investment has meant that we have not returned to the days of 10 years ago, when statutory homelessness in England was nearly double what it is today.

[Liz McInnes]

I thank the Minister for that response, but Government figures released just last week show that homelessness has risen by 36% since 2010 and that the number of homeless families living in bed and breakfasts has soared by 300%. Is the Minister not shocked at the dreadful legacy of the past five years, and will he commit to make tackling homelessness a top priority?

[Mr Jones]

The Government are absolutely committed to tackling homelessness. The hon. Lady mentions bed-and-breakfast accommodation but, to put it into context, a small number of authorities—about 5%—account for 80% of the breaches. We are taking this very seriously and are absolutely clear that the long-term use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation for families with children is unacceptable and unlawful. However, the hon. Lady must also bear it in mind that the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation is a third of its peak under the Labour Administration.

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

Given the pernicious link between homelessness, mental illness, addiction, crime and unemployment, what progress has been made on the autumn statement commitment to extend the principles of the troubled families programme to other individuals with multiple needs?

[Mr Jones]

It is too early for me to comment on what will be in my right hon. Friend the Chancellor’s Budget—

[Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) (Lab)]

Better be careful what you say, then.

[Mr Jones]

I thank the hon. Lady for her advice.

I certainly hear what my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes) says, and we are making it a great priority to work with troubled families to try to improve their lives and, in particular, outcomes for their children.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

Is it not a scandal that there are so many people sleeping on the streets of this country and that so many children are being brought up in temporary accommodation with no long-term security? Is it not a scandal that much of that is brought about by short-term renting in the private rented sector by people who then get moved out, particularly in London, because of the way in which the benefit cap operates? Should we not rethink housing strategy and housing needs in this country?

[Mr Jones]

I thank the hon. Gentleman and wish him luck in his endeavours over the next few months. He seems to be harking back to the same failed policies that lost his party the general election. He does raise an extremely important issue about assured shorthold tenancies and what happens to people when those tenancies come to an end. Some excellent work is going on, with some authorities helping people in that position to avoid homelessness. I want to build on the good work that has been done, to ensure that nobody is made homeless as a result of an assured shorthold tenancy.

[Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

So complacent.

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his post. During the election, the Prime Minister stated that the number of people sleeping rough had gone down over the past five years. Crisis, the homelessness charity, said he had got his facts wrong. The Government’s own statistics show that the number of rough sleepers has gone up by 55%. Will the Minister correct the Prime Minister’s mistake?

[Mr Jones]

I thank the hon. Lady for her welcome. Compared with the situation five years ago, this Government changed the methodology for counting rough sleeping so that we have a more honest and accurate assessment and do not sweep things under the carpet, as her party did when it was in government. We have a number of programmes on rough sleeping that are working well. The “No Second Night Out” programme has been rolled out across the country, and in London more than two thirds of those new to the streets are not spending a second night out because of that programme.

[David Mackintosh (Northampton South) (Con)]

8. How many homes have been built under the affordable homes programme.

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[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Does the Secretary of State agree with the Department of Health that local authorities should not charge carers for the support packages that they receive to enable them to carry on their critical caring roles?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. [Interruption.] I am looking for the right page in my brief. The hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) has given me all sorts of wonderful and very helpful advice today.

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that we need to make sure that we support older people properly. In relation to the better care fund, he knows that £5.3 billion is coming through to support people in this financial year.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Lichfield District Council is in early negotiations with the West Midlands combined authority and other local authorities, but it wishes to maintain control over planning and housing policy. Will that be possible for local authorities such as Lichfield?