§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information his Department has recently gathered regarding the total number of homeless people who(a) 260W have no home or family to go back to, (b) have been forced to leave home by an adult member of the family, (c) left home after being abused or fearing abuse by another member of the family and (d) could safely return to their families; and what use he makes of this information in shaping his (1) housing and (2) social security policies.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe homelessness statistics collected by the Scottish Development Department relate to households which apply to local authorities under the provisions of part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. For each applicant, the returns record information including the reason given for becoming homeless. Information in the detail requested is not available. However, on the basis of the returns, in 1988–89, 37 per cent. of applicants gave as their reason for homelessness that friends or relatives were no longer willing or able to accommodate them; 14 per cent. said they had had a violent dispute with the spouse or co-habitee.
The Government take account of all relevant available information in formulating their policies. Social security matters are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Social Security.