Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve collaboration between adult social care and voluntary sector homelessness services.

Local authorities and integrated care boards share responsibility for undertaking a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), working through health and wellbeing boards, to assess current and future health and social care needs. This assessment then informs the commissioning and delivery of health and care services. Guidance on JSNAs makes clear that they should cover the needs of vulnerable groups, including homeless people.

More broadly, the Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to deliver on the ambitions set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness. This includes a commitment that no one eligible for homelessness assistance is discharged to the street after a hospital stay.

In addition, we have established a new national adult safeguarding board in response to Baroness Casey’s adult social care reform recommendations. One of the initial priorities of this board is to update the Care Act statutory guidance on adult safeguarding to drive better multi-agency implementation and practice across a wide range of issues, including homelessness.