Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the (a) number of people aged under 21 who will be affected by and (b) effect on the level homelessness of the planned removal of the housing benefit element of universal credit.

Current estimates suggest that 10,000 people will be affected by the policy. The Department has worked in collaboration with key stakeholders such as Crisis and Shelter to make sure the policy includes the right exemptions to protect the most vulnerable people, including those at risk of homelessness; we are therefore confident about the robustness of the policy.