§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress being made by local authorities in providing accommodation for homeless families and single people since the reorganisation of local government on 1st April 1974.
§ Mr. FreesonMany local authorities have accepted the advice in the joint circular on homelessness issued in February last year, and so are able to provide more effectively for homeless people—particularly those in the priority groups, at the top of which are families. Department of the Environment recent Circular No. 24/75, "Housing; Needs and Action", stresses the urgent need for an increase in the provision of housing for small households, including single people, and I am consulting the local authority associations and other bodies concerned on a circular about the standards for building for single people.