§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the number of homeless people sleeping rough in the London area; and in view of the severe weather, what action is being taken to provide shelter on a temporary or permanent basis.
639WA
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Avon)No reliable figures are available. Local authorities have specific duties to provide appropriate assistance to genuinely homeless people in conjunction with any statutory or voluntary bodies which have facilities to offer. The Department of Health and Social Security provides and maintains resettlement units for homeless single people without a settled way of life and there are vacant beds in five of the eight resettlement units in London.