Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Rough Sleepers: West Midlands

Monday 27 June 2022 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Michael Fabricant asked whether the Minister had discussions with the Mayor of the West Midlands on steps his Department is taking to help rough sleepers into long-term accommodation.
  • The Mayor of the West Midlands has initiated a Housing First pilot, achieving 552 individuals securing tenancy through the programme.
  • Sarah Owen questioned the Minister's Department's backing of the pledge to end rough sleeping, given the Secretary of State's efforts to revive the Vagrancy Act 1824.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Michael Fabricant Con
Housing
Context

Discussions about rough sleepers and steps taken to help them into long-term accommodation.

Question

Whether he has had discussions with the Mayor of the West Midlands on steps his Department is taking to help rough sleepers into long-term accommodation.

Answer from Eddie Hughes

The first thing Andy Street did when he became Mayor of the West Midlands was to convene a taskforce to tackle rough sleeping in the west midlands. He is a valued member of the Government's rough sleeping advisory panel, where I welcome his advice regularly, and the Government have supported the west midlands with funding for a range of accommodation, including £1 million for new homes under the rough sleeping accommodation programme.

Answered
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Q2 Michael Fabricant Con
Housing
Context

Discussion about the Housing First pilot initiated by the Mayor of West Midlands to address rough sleeping.

Question

How does the Minister assess the effectiveness of the Housing First pilot that the Mayor has initiated in addressing rough sleeping in the west midlands?

Answer from Eddie Hughes

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, has been a strong champion of the Housing First programme and the pilots. That has already achieved 552 individuals securing a tenancy through the programme. They are provided not just with accommodation but with the incredibly vital support that is necessary to help people to sustain a tenancy.

Answered
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Q3 Sarah Owen Lab Luton North
NHS Social Care Housing
Context

Discussion about the Government's pledge to end rough sleeping by 2024 and the reintroduction of the Vagrancy Act.

Question

Can he honestly tell the House that this pledge has his whole Department's backing when the Secretary of State is seeking to bring back the universally hated, cruel and antiquated Vagrancy Act 1824? If this Government really believe their own promise that they can end rough sleeping within the next two years, why are they seeking to recriminalise it now?

Answer from Eddie Hughes

Our ambition to end rough sleeping in the lifetime of this Parliament does not just require the wholehearted investment of our Ministers but of Ministers right across the Government. We are working incredibly closely with Ministers from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions to make sure that we do genuinely achieve that ambition.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The reintroduction of the Vagrancy Act 1824

How: Working Closely With Other Departments

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