Homelessness

Debate between Mark Prisk and Chris Ruane

Monday 17th September 2012 Ministerial Corrections

[Chris Ruane]

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of homeless people in each (a) local authority area and (b) Parliamentary constituency in each of the last 20 years.

[Official Report, 11 September 2012, Vol. 550, c. 143-4W.]

Letter of correction from Mark Prisk:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) on 11 September 2012. The figure given for investment in homelessness prevention was incorrect due to an administrative error.

The full answer given was follows:

[Mr Prisk]

The Department publishes statistics on homelessness for England. Figures for the other UK countries are a matter for the devolved Administrations. I have placed in the Library of the House, two tables setting out the numbers of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to ensure that suitable accommodation is available) for each local authority area and for each financial year from 1997-98 to 2011-12. One table covers the period 1997-98 to 2008-09 and the other one covers the period following local government restructuring, from 2009-10 to 2011-12. This information has been collected from local authorities on quarterly P1E returns.

Figures at local authority level for earlier years are not readily available: some may be available from paper returns, but only at disproportionate cost.

Quarterly figures for recent years are also available from the Department's website at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness

The available figures for numbers of people estimated or counted as rough sleepers within each local authority area from 1998 to 2011 are published on the Department's website at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/roughsleepingcounts

Please note that the methodology involved was reviewed and changing during 2010, meaning that figures for 2010 and 2011 are not comparable with those for earlier years.

The Department does not collect or publish information on the number of homeless people in individual parliamentary constituencies, except for the few cases where a constituency is coterminous with the area of a local authority, which are covered in the answer above.

Homelessness acceptances remain lower than in 28 of the last 30 years and are still under half the level it reached under the Labour Government (49,000 in 2011 compared with 136,000 in 2003).

We are investing £3900 million in homelessness prevention over four years 2011-12 to 2014-15). We provided an additional £70 million last year to help local agencies prevent and tackle homelessness.

The correct answer should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Prisk and Chris Ruane

Thursday 17th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

We are working hard to ensure that the sector, which is a £10 billion industry by sales, is able to grow. That is why I am co-chairing the Marine Industries Leadership Council, and we held a reception in Parliament for all Members to understand its impact. We have a number of important studies on exports and on trade, making sure that investment is forthcoming, and we are determined to ensure an effective partnership between industry and Government so that there is growth.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

What is the Minister’s definition of the big society, and what role is his Department playing in it?

Sheffield Forgemasters

Debate between Mark Prisk and Chris Ruane

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

No, because it is important that I try to answer some of the other questions that were raised and I have only five minutes left. The hon. Gentleman asked some eminently sensible questions and I want to try to give him the answers.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

What about the letter?

[Mr Prisk]

I will come to the letter in a moment.

The hon. Member for Sheffield South East asked me what affordability actually means. There seems to be some confusion about this on the part of Labour Members. Financing a loan of this nature needed £80 million more debt to be issued. That would have meant £80 million more debt on the Government’s books this year. So to claim that somehow this loan would not be as challenging as all that or would not really represent debt on the books of the Government is not correct. The reality is that by taking on that commitment we would have been adding to the enormous debt, regardless of the nature of the assets it financed.

I turn now to the question of the letter and the background to it, which Labour Members appear to be more interested in than the question of the company—[Interruption.] I exclude the local Sheffield Members, but their colleagues appear to be more concerned about the party politics. Local Members have made representation to the Department by means of a freedom of information inquiry. They put their letters forward. On seeing those I ensured that their requests were answered, so that they received all the information this evening for this debate. That is an important point, because one of the accusations against us is that somehow we are not being transparent. In making sure that those hon. Members who tabled freedom of information requests received the information for this debate, we are being—let me be crystal clear on this point—absolutely transparent on this matter.