§ Mr. Tim Rentonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he proposes to make effective his decision that local authority housing departments should have a mandatory duty to provide for the homeless; and what sanctions he proposes to place on housing departments to ensure that this duty is performed effectively.
§ Mr. FreesonI intend to make a detailed announcement shortly on how we intend to progress toward making housing authorities statutorily responsible for dealing with homelessness in the context of the consultation paper on home-lessness which we have been considering.