Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his announcement of 13 October 2020 entitled COVID-19: provision of night shelters, if he will publish the advice his Department received from Public Health England.

We have worked extensively with Public Health England (PHE) to provide Operating Principles for the sector, to help them open shelters as safely as possible where necessary, when self-contained accommodation can’t be made available and when local partners agree that it’s the right thing to do. PHE were closely involved in the production of the Operating Principles and offered advice as part of our Night Shelter Working Group. .

The Operating Principles are part of a wider package. Last week we announced a £10 million Cold Weather Fund to support councils to tackle homelessness this winter and bring forward self-contained accommodation and COVID-secure accommodation, as well as a £2 million fund for the sector to help them transform their traditional models to be COVID-secure.