HC Deb 14 February 1991 vol 185 cc545-6W
Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) which voluntary organisations carried out the survey of people sleeping rough in London referred to by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary on 8 January,Official Report, column 543; and on what date the survey was conducted;

(2) if he will provide a borough-by-borough breakdown of the 1,046 people sleeping rough in London quoted by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary on 8 February, Official Report, column 543;

(3) whether the Metropolitan police took part in the survey of people sleeping rough in London referred to by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary on 8 January, Official Report, column 543.

Sir George Young

The estimate of 1,046 people sleeping rough in central London quoted by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary was drawn from estimates made by the voluntary organisations listed in the table. These estimates were made at the end of January in relation to seven areas in central London in which the main concentrations of rough sleepers are found. The voluntary organisations are in regular contact with the Metropolitan police but they did not consult the police on these estimates.

The estimates for the seven areas were as follows; it is not possible to analyse them on a borough-by-borough basis:

Number
Strand and West End 130
Victoria and Vauxhall 300
Earl's Court and Hammersmith Broadway 56
The "Bullring" and Waterloo 120
The City 130
Lincoln's Inn Fields and Kingsway 210
King's Cross 100

The voluntary organisations that took part in the estimates were:

  • Salvation Army
  • Beacon House
  • Providence Row Housing Association
  • East London Homeless Primary Care Team
  • Look Ahead Housing Association
  • City Social Services
  • St. Botolph's Day Centre
  • Thamesreach
  • Church Housing Association
  • Roman Catholic Chaplaincy for the Homeless
  • King's Cross Homelessness Project
  • Camden Homeless Monitoring Group
  • New Horizon
  • Shaftesbury Society
  • St. Mongo's Association
  • North Lambeth Day Centre
    • 546
  • De Paul Trust
  • Vauxhall Action for the Homeless in the Community
  • The Passage Day Centre
  • St. Vincent Centre
  • The Cardinal Hume Centre
  • Streetwise Youth
  • The Basement Project
  • The Joint Homelessness Team
  • —Westminster Social Services
  • Arlington House
  • Hornsey YMCA
  • Threshold Housing Advice Centre
  • St. Martin's Social Care Unit
  • The London Connection
  • Piccadilly Advice Centre
  • Centrepoint Soho
  • Bondway Housing Association
  • Homeless Network