§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will study the code of practice introduced by the London borough of Islington concerning the standards and management of bed-and-breakfast establishments, hostels, hotels and similar non-permanent accommodation being used by local authorities to house homeless households; if he will give guidance to other local authorities in this respect; and if he will consider proposing a statutory code to be used by local authorities when referring homeless households to such establishments.
§ Sir George Young[pursuant to his reply, 18 June 1984]: I shall certainly be interested to see the code of practice to which the hon. Member refers. It is for individual local authorities to take whatever action they consider appropriate to ensure proper standards in such accommodation against the background of their powers under the Housing Acts.
My right hon. Friend has no plans to issue general guidance or to alter the statutory framework on this.