HC Deb 20 April 1988 vol 131 cc818-9
3. Mrs. Wise

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the latest figure for the number of families in bed and breakfast accommodation in England and Wales.

Mr. Waldegrave

The latest figure for England is 10,370.

Mrs. Wise

Does the Minister accept that the figure is still unacceptably high? Does he understand that the system means that mothers and babies must frequently spend their days walking the streets, while large amounts of public money are diverted into the private pockets of the owners of bed-and-breakfast establishments? When will he allow councils to solve homelessness by providing proper homes for rent?

Mr. Waldegrave

I agree with the hon. Lady that bed and breakfast is the most unsatisfactory form of short-term accommodation. That is agreed between us and councils. There is a very wide gap between the use that councils of all parties make of it. For example, Labour-controlled Greenwich makes virtually no use of it, although it has acute problems. The hon. Lady will welcome, as I do, the slight drop in the last quarter's figures, which is in response to the £25 million that we released to help with this problem just before Christmas.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes

Will my hon. Friend confirm that it would be a very good start if, particularly, Labour councils stopped keeping council accommodation empty at the expense of homeless families in their areas? Would it not be a good idea for councils to put homeless families in such properties and not pretend that they do not have the money or the resources to deal with the problem?

Mr. Waldegrave

My hon. Friend is right. A couple of weeks ago we released another £28 million, which will be targeted on getting empty and void local authority properties back into use. We have had a very good response from local authorities bidding for such money.

Mr. Soley

If the Minister is so ashamed of the Conservative party's record, why did the Government allow the matter to get into such an appalling state in the first place? Previous Conservative and Labour Governments did not allow it to get so bad. Conservative councils are complaining because they have to make use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation. Only 2.4 per cent. of council properties are empty, compared with 6.9 per cent. of Government-owned properties. When will the hon. Gentleman take this problem seriously, so that we do not have families living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for several years, families breaking up, families in poor health and children under-achieving in education?

Mr. Waldegrave

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the gap between the performance of the best and the worst councils—and the worst, I am afraid, are run by the Labour party—is so dramatic that there is no need to keep families with children in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for months at a time. That is a fact which many Labour councils know well and show very clearly.

Back to