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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has been made of potential changes to the number of people sleeping rough during winter 2017-18.

This Government is committed to prevent and reduce homelessness in England. That is why we are aiming to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027. No one should have to sleep rough, especially in winter.

DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness, temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention and relief. These are published at national and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics

We are taking action by implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, in April 2018, which will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier, to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.

One person without a home is one too many, and we are determined that we provide earlier and more effective support and advice to those at risk of homelessness. We have allocated over £950 million until 2020 to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping in England.