Speeches by Ali.

“To take the last one first, the statutory six-week limit applies to privately managed B&B accommodation. That includes shared accommodation. Councils have no control over who else is placed in that kind of accommodation and we know that that can put families in a vulnerable position. That is why the first priority is t…”

“We inherited a really difficult set of circumstances in terms of the number of people who are homeless in our country. I know that we will come on to rough sleeping. Between June 2023 and 2024, there was a 50% increase in the number of households with children staying in B&Bs. It is not acceptable, but that is what we …”

“You are absolutely right. As I say, as an MP dealing with constituents who are placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, for me, it is an absolute must that we bring down and eliminate the number of people who are in bed and breakfast. We are working with local authorities. We are seeing the impact of the work that is…”

“There are things that can be done. The first step is to support local authorities to get out of that situation. That means working closely with the homelessness advisory teams and developing plans. I have seen evidence, including in my own local authority, where actually they have gone down to zero in terms of interven…”

“These are the ones with the highest. Penny, do you want to add anything on that?”

“It is really important that we get to a point where we do not have to use emergency accommodation for homeless families and we eliminate the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation. The condition and the circumstances in which children and families find themselves, with inappropriate cooking facilities and all sorts of …”

“Yes, and of course the capital receipts that can be used from right to buy, which is something that we have announced in this Government, is an additional resource allocation that is now available to local authorities.”

“Immediate action that the Chancellor has taken is to provide £500 million to the affordable homes programme to get 5,000 affordable homes available as quickly as possible, built or provided for, in terms of social housing. There is the £450 million that was announced just after the general election for schemes like tha…”

“We know from our own individual experiences in constituencies that there are huge pressures on local authorities. They have had 14 years of cuts in funding. There are pressures. This Government have already increased the funding and support to local authorities. We want to work closely with local authorities to identif…”

“The legislative programme is really important in what we are doing as a Government now. There is a wider issue around improvement, regulation and the regulators, because the numbers are concerning. The English Housing Survey data is concerning in terms of the private rented sector, but also in the social rented. It is …”

“As an MP representing a constituency in London, I know how devastating it is. I have, as I know other colleagues have, dealt with life and death situations with constituents because of these sorts of issues and challenges in terms of shortage but also the sorts of examples you have given. Damp and mould, if it is not t…”

“To reassure you, in parallel we are doing work around supporting local authorities in terms of funding, but also there are the homelessness advisers in the Department who work with those who are facing particular challenges. We also have a series of Government programmes and pilots, such as the Housing First pilot and …”

“I could not agree more. To reassure you, we have some great examples. You mentioned some of that. In terms of policy, the previous Labour Government cut rough sleeping by two-thirds. We have a really good evidence base on what worked historically and where things can go wrong. We need to learn from success as well as f…”

“I will just bring in Penny if she wanted to add anything.”

“There will be a strategy that will be available after phase 2 of the spending review.”

“It is an internal government report. We are at the early stages of looking at working across Government, but we are certainly keen to engage this Committee. When the report of this inquiry comes out, we would be keen to draw on the insights that you have. I have looked very carefully at the written evidence that was su…”

“We expect to publish the strategy following the conclusion of phase 2 of the spending review. I would not want to get into specifics, but that is just to reassure you. We can continue the conversation as we make progress, as we do in Parliament. Obviously, it is not just this session. There will be other opportunities …”

“We can follow up, but this is an initial meeting, setting out and agreeing the themes. Then, as I say, we have another meeting coming up. To reassure you all, we are not waiting for a strategy to develop. We have taken action in terms of legislative programmes in my Department, as you know. We can go on to it later. Th…”

“Each Department has lead responsibility. To give you an example, this is not a talking shop. We have been taking action in terms of my Department. The first thing we did is that the Chancellor, as you know, increased the funding for homelessness by £233 million, bringing the total to £1 billion, which we announced the …”

“Our aim is to work across Government and make sure that those underlying issues that drive homelessness and rough sleeping are owned by the relevant Departments. That is a feature of a number of cross-governmental groups, for instance the violence against women inter-ministerial group, the child poverty inter-ministeri…”