Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Monday 28th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)]

1. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the death rate among homeless people.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Lab)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the death rate among homeless people.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

16. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the death rate among homeless people.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Brokenshire]

As I said before Christmas, these figures are hugely shocking. As I have already indicated, one death is one too many. That is why we are committed to taking action across the board; I pointed to the £100 million rough sleeping strategy. At times like this when we have colder weather, we have also allocated an extra £5 million over and above some of our additional work with short-term capacity to support councils to ensure that we are actually giving the help that is needed to some of the most vulnerable in our society.

[Rosie Duffield]

This week I spoke to the Hepatitis C Trust and my local homeless charity, Porchlight, who highlighted rough sleepers as a significantly vulnerable group in terms of alcohol and drug dependency. What steps are the Secretary of State and his Department taking to help homeless people to access mental health and addiction services?