HC Deb 11 November 1992 vol 213 cc859-60
1. Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he plans to announce any new measures to reduce the number of homeless people sleeping rough this coming winter in towns and cities outside London.

The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Michael Howard)

The Government are providing more than £6 million in grants this year to voluntary organisations throughout England which give direct practical help to homeless people. The primary responsibility for help to people sleeping rough in severe weather rests with local authorities, and the local authority associations have accepted that responsibility in the context of the "Winter Watch" guidelines published recently by Crisis and Shelter.

Mr. Bayley

Will the Secretary of State consider increasing his grants to voluntary bodies? I have just received a copy of the annual report of the Peasholme centre, a York charity which provides a hostel for single homeless people. In the past 12 months, its number of clients in York has increased by 60 per cent. to 445. Of those, three out of five—some 267 clients—were found to have slept rough at some time in the previous year. The number of young clients aged 24 or under has more than doubled in 12 months, increasing from 60 to 130, of whom 33 are aged 16 and 17.

The figures are increasing sharply, and I urge the Secretary of State to do considerably more than he is doing at present to deal with the plight of single homeless people.

Mr. Howard

According to the census taken on the night of 21 to 22 April 1991, only six people were sleeping rough in York on that night. I believe that the assistance that we are providing is effective, and is helping to provide a solution to the problems, but I shall look with interest at the figures cited by the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. David Nicholson

My right hon. and learned Friend will know that families face housing difficulties not only in the larger towns outside London, but in smaller towns and rural areas such as my constituency. Will he and his colleagues continue to press the Treasury—I am sure that they have been doing so—for assistance with the construction of low-cost housing, especially through greater flexibility in the release of capital receipts from council house sales? Such an initiative will not only meet certain social needs but will revive the construction industry, which is greatly in need of revival.

Mr. Howard

My hon. Friend has put his points with great force. He knows that what he says is always taken extremely seriously.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

Is the Secretary of State aware that 5,000 homeless people are now being dealt with by the Cyrenians in Coventry—a 32 per cent. increase over the past two years? Does he realise that the Cyrenians' entire evening service depends on a temporary grant from his Department which is due to run out in March? Will he take the necessary measures to ensure that the service continues beyond that date?

Mr. Howard

First, I pay tribute to voluntary bodies such as the one that the hon. Gentleman mentioned which are doing such admirable work in partnership with my Department. We take our responsibilities very seriously, and I believe that the resources that we provide are being used effectively, but I have noted what the hon. Gentleman said about next year.