Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Heather Wheeler(5 years, 8 months ago)
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Mrs Wheeler
I thank my hon. Friend for his tenacious work in looking after Scots wherever they might be, north or south. The withdrawal of that funding is, sadly, a matter for the Scottish Government, but we have allocated more than £220 million of funding to London, largely through the flexible homelessness support grant and the Move On fund. Our expert advisers are supporting local authorities to tailor their services according to local need, particularly for our Scottish friends.
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
The number of homeless households seeking help in Hounslow—including some from Scotland—has doubled in the past 10 months. Hounslow has an admirable record, including a five-year programme of delivering 3,000 new social rent homes, yet it is losing council stock faster through the right to buy. Will the Government recognise that they have to take responsibility for delivering adequate numbers of social rent housing in order to deal with the homelessness crisis?
Mrs Wheeler
The hon. Lady is quite right to say that ensuring that we have enough affordable homes in London and elsewhere is a high priority for this Government, which is why we changed the rules on housing revenue account funding, and I look forward to the authority building even more houses than it has already.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Heather Wheeler(6 years, 6 months ago)
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Mrs Wheeler
The situation differs slightly in different parts of the UK. There is Government funding for projects in England that look after people who have indeterminate national status. I honestly do not know whether the situation in Scotland is a UK matter or a Scottish matter. I will have to write to the hon. Lady on that issue.
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Heather Wheeler(6 years, 10 months ago)
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Mrs Wheeler
The hon. Lady asks a very interesting question. The taskforce will be looking at cross-county and rural-to-city issues. Perhaps we could meet to discuss this further after our first meeting on 1 February.
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
If the Treasury Committee can recognise the social and fiscal benefits of removing the council house building borrowing cap completely, why cannot the Government?