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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to Centrepoint's statement to The Independent newspaper of 9 January 2017, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of zero-hour contracts on the ability of young homeless people aged between 16 and 25 to escape homelessness in the long term.

The Government is committed to tackling youth homelessness and ensuring that young vulnerable people get the help they need to secure accommodation and find employment.

That is why the Government has taken a range of steps, including investing £15 million in the Fair Chance Fund programme, which is currently supporting around 1,900 homeless 18-25 year olds with complex needs into accommodation, education, training and employment. We have also invested in other initiatives designed specifically to support young homeless people into accommodation so they have a stable platform for work. A great example of this is the £40 million Platform for Life programme, which provides affordable shared accommodation for homeless young people.

We have also taken steps to ensure that zero hours contracts are used appropriately and not abused. Measures in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 prohibit the use of exclusivity clauses or terms in any zero hours contract, which means employers cannot stop an individual looking for work or accepting work from another employer. On average, people on zero hour contracts work 25 hours a week and nearly 70 per cent of people on zero hours contracts do not want more hours, according to ONS figures.