§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now publish the report of the Working Group on Homeless Young People; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EnnalsCopies of the report of the Working Group on Homeless Young People have today been placed in the Vote Office for hon. Members and in the Libraries of both Houses. Copies will also be sent to the local authority associations and voluntary bodies concerned and can be obtained from my Department.
The working group consisted of representatives of interested Government Departments, local authorities and voluntary bodies. Its report makes a careful analysis of the problems of homelessness among young people, with particular regard to the issues raised by the Gleaves case and featured in the Yorkshire television programme "Johnny Go Home". It examines the services already available to young people and in particular the relevance for young people of recent housing legislation and policy on the provision of accommodation for young people generally.
It makes recommendations for coordinating and improving existing services and publicising them, with the particular aim of securing that they are used by young people who might otherwise become permanently homeless and rootless. There are also recommendations on administrative machinery and practice to secure the proper management of hostels for young people.
The Government are not committed to the acceptance of these recommendations but consider it desirable that they should be fully discussed. They will have to be considered carefully by the Government in consultation with the local authority associations and other interested bodies. In view of current economic circumstances, and the Government's call for restraint in local authority spending, there is little prospect of early implementation of those proposals which would require additional expenditure, but in the consultations particular attention will be 699W paid to what can otherwise be done to help homeless young people.