§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people sleeping out were removed from Lincoln's Inn Fields in March; how many of these people have been found(a) hostel accommodation and (b) permanent accommodation; how many are still living in their allocated accommodation; and how many are receiving follow-up support.
§ Sir George YoungIn November 1992, as a part of independent research into the Government's £96 million rough sleepers initiative—RSI—a count was made of people sleeping rough in central London. Around 100 people were found sleeping in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The Department provided almost £100,000 under the RSI to fund a team of outreach and resettlement workers to assess the housing and care needs of people sleeping rough in the fields, and to ensure so far as was possible that both were met. The Department also provided funding for extra hostel places, to help people sleeping rough in the fields to have the greatest chance of starting a new life away from the streets.
The outreach and resettlement team contacted all those known to sleep in the fields and all were offered accommodation. They rehoused 91 people before the fields were fenced off by the London borough of Camden in March this year. Of those 91 people, 37 are currently in hostel or other temporary accommodation; 34 are in permanent housing, provided either by LB Camden or through the RSI; and 20 people have voluntarily left their accommodation, of whom eight are known to have returned to the streets. Resettlement support is availabe to all people who, in the opinion of the resettlement team, require it.