§ Mr. ChisholmTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of the additional capital allocations for homelessness made available to housing authorities since 1991 has been specifically targeted on people sleeping rough. [26378]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonAdditional resources totalling almost £30 million were made available to local authorities for homeless projects from 1991 to 1994. Of this over £7.5 million, or 25 per cent., related to the provision of temporary accommodation which would particularly benefit people who were sleeping rough.
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§ Mr. ChisholmTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the current level of services to people sleeping rough. [26379]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonInformation is not available centrally on rooflessness services provided by statutory and voluntary bodies, and moreover services will often be used by other categories of homeless people as well as roofless people. However, we would expect local housing authorities, which have both the primary statutory responsibility for tackling homelessness, and also a duty to assess housing needs for their areas, to take account of the needs of roofless people in preparing their housing programmes. These programmes will inform authorities' capital allocations. At national level, we are undertaking research to produce during 1996 estimates of the prevalence of rooflessness in Scotland.