Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require all integrated care boards to make reference to (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping populations in their local health strategies.

The Health and Care Act 2022 promotes local area autonomy to allow local areas to develop their own priorities to meet their local area needs. The Secretary of State would like local areas to assess their own needs and make policies that work best for their local population.

To support local areas, NHS England has published guidance on the development of Joint Forward Plans and the Department has published guidance on the development of integrated care strategies. Both reference inclusion health groups, which includes people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping.