Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his oral contribution of 2 February 2022, Official Report, column 328, in respect of meeting the hon. Member for Barnsley East and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, when that meeting is planned to take place.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
My office have contacted the Hon Member to arrange a meeting.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding was available for veteran's supported accommodation in each year since 2010.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to supporting veterans who have given so much in service of our country. A refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan was published on 19 January.
Funding for housing support services is devolved to local authorities through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities are best placed to assess need and make decisions on what local services they provide, based on local priorities and circumstances.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 makes available £54.1 billion for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022/23 of over 4.5% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the funding required to provide specialist supported housing to every veteran in the UK who needs it.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to supporting veterans who have given so much in service of our country. A refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan was published on 19 January.
Funding for housing support services is devolved to local authorities through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities are best placed to assess need and make decisions on what local services they provide, based on local priorities and circumstances.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 makes available £54.1 billion for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022/23 of over 4.5% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding available for specialist supported housing for veterans with complex needs.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to supporting veterans who have given so much in service of our country. A refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan was published on 19 January.
Funding for housing support services is devolved to local authorities through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities are best placed to assess need and make decisions on what local services they provide, based on local priorities and circumstances.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 makes available £54.1 billion for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022/23 of over 4.5% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support veterans with complex needs to find supported housing.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
In framing their allocation scheme, local housing authorities must ensure that reasonable preference is given to people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including people with complex needs such as learning disabilities, as well as those with a physical disability.
In line with the Armed Forces Covenant, we changed the law in 2012 so that certain members of the armed forces community with urgent housing needs are always given additional preference (high priority) for social housing. Urgent housing need can include those who need to move because of a life threatening illness or sudden disability, families in severe overcrowding which poses a serious health hazard, and those who are homeless and require urgent re-housing as a result of violence or threats of violence.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what cross-boundary housing support is available for veterans in local authorities with low numbers of veterans.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to ensuring veterans are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
Delivering on the Armed Forces Covenant, in 2012 we introduced regulations which ensure that serving personnel and those within 5 years of having left the forces cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection or residency requirement.
At the same time we changed the law to ensure that ‘additional preference’, high priority, is given to serving members of the Armed Forces suffering from a serious injury or disability, and veterans with urgent housing needs.
Both provisions also apply to seriously injured and disabled Reservists and bereaved spouses of Service personnel. In June 2020 we published new statutory guidance for local authorities to further improve access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families. This guidance makes clear that local authorities are expected to disapply any local connection requirement from divorced or separated spouses or civil partners of Service personnel who are required to move out of accommodation provided by the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local authorities that take into account the needs of veterans in their homelessness strategies.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
Housing authorities are required to publish a Homelessness Strategy and update it at a minimum every five years. Statutory guidance is clear that when drawing up their strategies for preventing and reducing homelessness, housing authorities must consider the needs of all groups of people in their district who are homeless or likely to become homeless and may require a broader package of resettlement support, such as veterans.
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA) was introduced to transform the culture of homelessness service delivery. Local authorities and other public bodies must work together to prevent and relieve homelessness for people at risk, irrespective of whether they are a family or single person, the reason they are at risk, or if they have a local connection to the area.
A person who is vulnerable as a result of having been a member of Her Majesty’s regular armed forces (a veteran) has a priority need for accommodation. This will include a person who was previously a member of the regular naval, military or air forces.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local authorities that take into account the needs of veterans in their housing strategies.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Local authorities must frame their allocation scheme for social housing to give additional preference to certain members of the Armed Forces community, where they fall within one or more of the reasonable preference categories and have urgent housing needs. In line with the Armed Forces Covenant we changed the law in 2012 so that those serving in the Armed Forces as well as those who have recently been discharged do not lose their qualification rights for social housing because of the requirement to move from base to base.
When exercising their allocations function, local authorities must also have regard to statutory guidance (2020) which strongly encourages local authorities to take into account the needs of all serving or former Service personnel, including veterans, when framing their allocation schemes. The guidance also encourages local authorities to consider the housing needs of family members of serving or former Service personnel who may themselves have been disadvantaged by the requirements of military service.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of removing the local connection test for the Armed Forces community when applying for social housing on the prevalence of veteran rough sleeping.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the dedication and sacrifices made by members of the Armed Forces and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to adjust successfully back into civilian life.
In line with the Armed Forces Covenant, in 2012 we introduced regulations which ensure that serving personnel and those within 5 years of having left the forces cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection or residency requirement. The data in England shows that the percentage of serving personnel and those leaving the forces within five years who were allocated social housing in a local authority area where they had not previously lived remained higher in 2019-20 than the percentage among the non-veteran population.
Veteran homelessness is low. Data shows that for the year 2020-21, 1,730 veterans were owed a homelessness duty out of the 268,560 total households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the advice outlined in Improving access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces 2020 on the prevalence of veteran rough sleeping.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the dedication and sacrifices made by members of the Armed Forces and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
Statutory guidance to improve access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families makes clear that seriously injured, ill or disabled Service personnel, and former members of the Armed Forces, with urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing.
The allocation of social housing by a local council is the responsibility of the council concerned. Local authorities are best placed to assess the impact of allocations policy on local communities as these will vary, based on local priorities and circumstances.
In 2018, the Government implemented the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, the most ambitious piece of legislative reform in this area in over a decade. This requires the Secretary of State for Defence to refer members of the regular Armed Forces in England to a local housing authority within 56 days if they believe they may be homeless or threatened with homelessness (with the individual’s consent).