Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department plans to take to stabilise local authority revenue budgets.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.
We understand that improving how local government is funded is crucial to enabling councils to deliver for local residents and ensuring we can deliver our missions. We will provide councils with more stability and certainty through multi-year funding settlements and by ending wasteful competitive bidding. This will ensure councils can plan their finances for the future properly, delivering better value for money for taxpayers.
We want to hear from councils about the financial challenges they are facing and we are committed to improving the local government finance landscape in this Parliament.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to prevent households with children being placed in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected. We want to take a long-term approach and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, we will develop a new cross-government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
MHCLG’s homelessness advice and support team (HAST) continue to work closely with local authorities under the highest pressures to reduce the number of households being placed in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department will publish its expected timeline for establishing a unit to end homelessness.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected. We want to take a long-term approach and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, we will develop a new cross-government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
MHCLG’s homelessness advice and support team (HAST) continue to work closely with local authorities under the highest pressures to reduce the number of households being placed in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to local authorities of providing temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected as well as placing financial strain on councils. Local authorities have reported the mounting costs of providing temporary accommodation. This information can be accessed here.
In 2022 – 23 the net cost to local authorities of providing temporary accommodation (after housing benefit) was £699 million.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to confirm the future of the Housing First pilots in (a) the Liverpool City Region, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the West Midlands combined authority areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected. We want to take a long-term approach and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, we will develop a new cross-government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
The Government’s spending plans will be set out at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will set out a timeline for the commencement of the repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that homelessness is too high and can have a devastating impact on households affected.
We need to take a long term approach and to tackle the different factors that can cause people to become homeless.
We will consider these issues carefully and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, develop a new cross-government strategy to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. This will include consideration of any relevant legislation including the Vagrancy Act.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that temporary accommodation used to house homeless children is a suitable standard.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local authorities must ensure any temporary accommodation placement is suitable and should try to place individuals within their own area. Government has been clear that the long-term use of B&B accommodation for families with children is inappropriate and unlawful and we are determined to stop this practice.
If an authority places a household in temporary accommodation outside of the local area, this should be as a last resort, and they should still try to place the household as near as possible to the original local authority.
The Government is taking steps to increase quality and regulation across all housing stock, including temporary accommodation. This includes reviewing the Decent Homes Standard, improving the way social housing is regulated through The Social Housing Regulation Act and delivering a better deal for renters through the Renters Reform Bill.
The Government has provided local authorities in excess of £1 billion over the next 3 years through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help them prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to reduce the number of councils offering temporary accommodation outside of their areas.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local authorities must ensure any temporary accommodation placement is suitable and should try to place individuals within their own area. Government has been clear that the long-term use of B&B accommodation for families with children is inappropriate and unlawful and we are determined to stop this practice.
If an authority places a household in temporary accommodation outside of the local area, this should be as a last resort, and they should still try to place the household as near as possible to the original local authority.
The Government is taking steps to increase quality and regulation across all housing stock, including temporary accommodation. This includes reviewing the Decent Homes Standard, improving the way social housing is regulated through The Social Housing Regulation Act and delivering a better deal for renters through the Renters Reform Bill.
The Government has provided local authorities in excess of £1 billion over the next 3 years through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help them prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to assist local authorities with the highest proportion of spend on temporary accommodation relative to their overall revenue.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government publishes statistics on local authority revenue expenditure and financing in England, which can be found here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023-24 budget - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Councils are ultimately responsible for the management of their own finances. At the last Local Government Finance Settlement, Government made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST) in DLUHC are set up across the country to provide advice, support and challenge to Local Authorities to help them improve the delivery of homelessness services to families and single people. Each Local Authority has a dedicated adviser.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an estimate of the ten local authorities with the highest expenditure on temporary accommodation as a proportion of their total revenue budgets.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government publishes statistics on local authority revenue expenditure and financing in England, which can be found here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023-24 budget - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Councils are ultimately responsible for the management of their own finances. At the last Local Government Finance Settlement, Government made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST) in DLUHC are set up across the country to provide advice, support and challenge to Local Authorities to help them improve the delivery of homelessness services to families and single people. Each Local Authority has a dedicated adviser.