Alison McGovern MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 24 Nov 2025 · Families in Temporary Accommodation · Hansard source

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  The homelessness strategy will be published soon, so the hon. Lady does not have long to wait. She characterises the situation well. We can fund sticking plasters and we can fund help, but in the end we have to get to the heart of the matter: No. 1—build homes; No. 2—make sure that families have enough money coming in to pay the rent. That will be at the heart of our strategy.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Buckinghamshire Council: Funding · Hansard source

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  As I said in an earlier answer, we made a policy statement on the fair funding review consultation last week. In addition, as I have said, the vast majority of upper-tier councils will see their incomes increase in real terms over the next three years. More details will come as we finalise funding arrangements. The Department will work closely with Buckinghamshire and all other councils to ensure that their finances are stabilised after 14 rocky years.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Buckinghamshire Council: Funding · Hansard source

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  The Government are changing the way we fund local authorities, reconnecting funding with deprivation after 14 years of Tory Governments cutting councils in the poorest places. The vast majority of upper-tier councils will see their income increase in real terms over the next three years. For 2025-26, the local government finance settlement made available up to £577 million for Buckinghamshire council—a 5.7% cash-terms increase in core spending power on the year before.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Buckinghamshire Council: Funding · Hansard source

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  I know how important it is for my hon. Friend to champion those towns and villages. He is right to say that the three-year funding settlement for councils will help, including with forward planning. Where we are considering cost pressures—those in adult social care, for example—it will help us to change the way in which services are delivered so that we can support people and ensure that councils across the country, such as Buckinghamshire, have more stable finances in the future.

• 19 Nov 2025 · Local Government Reform: Huntingdonshire · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman rightly raises the fragility of council finances. Everything that we are doing needs to put local authorities on a much firmer footing. The past 15 years have seen town hall finances deteriorate. We are taking steps through the local government finance settlement to address that. More information on that will come shortly. Further local government reorganisation is an opportunity to streamline public services and get councils on a firmer footing. Unfortunately, I am in the invidious position of not being able to comment on the hon. Gentleman’s specific point, but I assure him that all the actions we are taking in relation to local government change have finance stability at their heart. He mentioned the work of CIPFA; I take the opportunity to pay tribute to CIPFA and the excellent work it does in helping to support councils. We will take more steps shortly to get councils on a firmer footing. I turn to the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. Local authorities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have been developing proposals for unitary local government. That follows the commitment made in the English devolution White Paper last December and the invitation letters sent to areas last February. Decisions on the most appropriate option for each area will be judgments in the round, made with regard to the criteria he mentioned that are in the statutory guidance, the consultation responses received and all the relevant information. The Government’s criteria for unitary local government set out that new unitary councils should enable stronger community engagement and deliver genuine opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment. We understand the importance of communities having their say on the future of their local public services, so we have been clear about the importance of councils engaging with local residents and organisations as they develop their proposals. I know that the hon. Gentleman led a Westminster Hall debate on these important issues before the summer recess and has been an active part of discussions on local government reorganisations in his area, as we have heard again today. I am expecting to receive proposals from local authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough by 28 November, and we anticipate that we will publicly consult on final proposals in the new year. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that I am in a challenging position and it would not be appropriate for me to comment at this stage or provide my view on the specifics that he mentioned, because it would pre-empt future decisions that I have to make under the statutory process. There are clearly strong views locally, which were reflected in his speech. When the time comes to launch the consultation, I am sure I will not need to encourage him and his constituents to make sure that they have their say and feed in their views on the future of local government in their area. The Government want to hear them, and I have absolutely no doubt that we will. The hon. Gentleman mentioned local councillors several times. I am sorry to say that I think being a local councillor has become a bit of a thankless task, whichever party local councillors represent, and our politics has become more fractious. I reiterate what an important job they do in providing people with preventive public services, trying to build our economy and being there for members of the public when they most need it. I will finish by saying a massive thank you to all the local councillors in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, in my constituency and right across the country. They do a fantastic job. Question put and agreed to.

• 19 Nov 2025 · Local Government Reform: Huntingdonshire · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mrs Harris; I appreciate that. It is, as ever, a pleasure to serve under your experienced and knowledgeable chairship. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) on securing a debate that is clearly of great importance to his constituency. I think that he asked me two questions, about the place of St Neots and about whether the Government intend to deliver on their defence commitments. Unfortunately, in relation to the specifics of the proposals, I am in the invidious position of not being able to comment. The hon. Gentleman will understand that while we are in an active process of consultation I must reserve my judgment, so that I am able to take a decision based on the facts as they will be presented to me. On defence, I am sure that, as the hon. Gentleman said, everyone in this country would expect the Government to do what we need to do to defend our country. Although that is not my specific responsibility in government, the defence of this country is a collective responsibility and I will work very closely with my colleagues in the Ministry of Defence, as I do week in and week out, to make sure that we are able to deliver on our commitments to keep this country safe. Before I turn to the topics in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, I will briefly set out why we are reorganising local government and why that process is important to the Government’s overall objectives. Nearly a third of our population—about 20 million people—live in areas with two-tier local government services and functions split across county and district councils. That slows down economic decision making and delivery and leads to fragmentation in our public services. Even in the short months in which I have been the Minister for Local Government, I have heard that from councillors directly. It is confusing—who does what and who is responsible? In our Department, several Ministers were leaders of councils themselves and so have practical experience of the issue. Through local government reorganisation, we are simplifying local government and establishing single-tier unitary councils everywhere. We need stronger local councils equipped to make economic growth more likely, improve public services and empower communities. That is the point of reorganisation: so that we have councils that match the real economic footprint of our cities and towns, rather than, in some cases, lines drawn on a map 50 years ago. Councils need to play a much clearer and stronger role in building our economy and making sure that our national growth story includes everyone, everywhere. Local government reorganisation can help to do that. With one council in charge of each area, we will see quicker decisions to grow our towns and cities and connect people to opportunity. Reorganisation will speed up house building, get vital infrastructure projects moving and attract new investment. There are also social and public services benefits. Bringing services such as housing, public health and social care under one roof means that one council can see the full picture, spot problems early and, for example, support a family in need of housing and then support the children to stay in school. That often does not happen at the moment—we see families who are dealing with the worst type of homelessness being passed from pillar to post. We have already announced two new unitary councils in Surrey, investing in residents’ futures and putting local authorities there on a sustainable footing. I am also pleased to announce further aspects of the process. This is just the start: we are working with a further 14 areas across England that will benefit from this once-in-a-generation reform, with their proposals due by 28 November.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Local Government Funding: North-west England · Hansard source

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  It is, as ever, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) for initiating the debate on this important topic. He rehearses arguments I heard made in this Chamber and in the Chamber of the House of Commons for 14 long years, as local government funding was slowly undermined by the Tories. The Osborne cuts—I am making myself sound very old, Mr Turner, but you will remember those days—fell on town halls almost more than anywhere else. I have great sympathy with the hon. Member’s argument. Our country is diverse and all our towns and cities face unique challenges arising from their own economic and social history. As the hon. Member rightly set out, when local government is successful, people experience public services that are specific to them, and every place is given the best chance of growth. He is right to connect dissatisfaction with politics overall with the place of local government. It is in all our interests to see it succeed. With the UK Government and local government working closely together, we can achieve our collective aims. As the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead in Merseyside, I am more than aware of the challenges and opportunities that our region faces. The Government are committed to making sure that local government in the north-west and across England is put on a sustainable and secure footing. Doing so after 14 years of damage will be complicated, but I believe we can make progress. The local government finance settlement for 2025 to 2026 made available £69 billion of funding through core spending power, of which £9.4 billion—14% of the total for England—was allocated to the north-west. The settlement marked the beginning of the Government’s commitment to rebuild and stabilise local government. That commitment included introducing a new £600 million recovery grant targeted at those areas with greatest need and demand for services and less ability to raise income locally. I hear what the hon. Member for Cheadle says about Stockport and the recovery grant. I repeat the comments I just made: it was specifically targeted on the basis of need. In recovering the financial position of local authorities, an important golden thread that runs through all the steps that the Government will take is that we will objectively consider need, deprivation, poverty and inequality to make sure that we are supporting local government to help rebalance our country and provide services in a way that helps everybody to have the best chance of thriving. In the north-west, 78% of councils received an allocation of the recovery grant, totalling £146 million—24% of England’s total. That is the first meaningful step towards funding reform, which was not achieved under the Tories. Our ambition does not stop at this year’s settlement. The spending review provided more than £5 billion of new grant funding for local government over the next three years, allowing us to move forward with reforms that will reduce the pressure on local government. This year my predecessor embarked on a consultation on the long delayed fair funding review because the outdated way in which local authorities are funded has left some places behind. We intend to redirect around £2 billion of existing funding to the places and communities that need it most, ensuring the best value for Government and for taxpayers. For the first time since 2013-14, the Government are updating the relative needs formulae that form a key part of how local authorities’ funding allocations are calculated. This year, those reforms will be delivered through the first multi-year settlement in a decade, giving councils the certainty that they have long called for, enabling more spending on prevention and less on paying for the costs of failure. I would be a rich woman if I had a pound for every time somebody in local government, over the past 14 years, had asked me for multi-year settlements to enable forward planning and focus on prevention. Introducing them is an important cornerstone of the Government’s new approach to local government. The reforms will also change the fragmented local government grant funding landscape. We will consolidate as much revenue funding as possible into the local government finance settlement, bringing funding together into the multi-year settlements so that we do not have such a complex mix of funding. For 2025-26, we consolidated almost £700 million into the settlement. We are going further and faster for 2026-27, and will deliver the biggest programme of funding simplification to date. That frees up resources for public services and helps local authorities to decide for themselves the most effective way to spend money in their communities. However, funding reform is only one part of the story. As the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) mentioned, we have to change public services to best serve residents and communities. There are areas where we have to consider not just funding but how the services are changing, and how need for them has shifted. The spending review confirmed more than £2 billion over the next three years for children’s social care reform. We are determined to invest in prevention, fix the broken care market and crack down on excessive and exploitative profit making. We will set out further detail on funding for children’s social care reform in the local government finance settlement. We are also committed to reform the adult social care system, and to build a national care service. We will consider recommendations from phase 1 of the independent commission into social care led by Baroness Casey when she reports in 2026. The Government have made a major step in boosting the wages and working conditions of adult social care workers across England, with an extra £500 million investment into the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers. For special educational needs and disabilities, we have ensured that funding for schools is increasing by over £4.7 billion a year by 2028-29 compared with the 2025-26 core schools budget that was published at the 2025 spring statement. With that funding, we will reform the SEND system to make mainstream schools more inclusive, improve outcomes and stop parents having to fight for support. We also recognise the pressures that local authorities are facing because of their dedicated schools grant deficits. In June, we announced a two-year extension to the DSG statutory override, which is now due to end in March 2028. We will set out further details in our plan to support local authorities with historical and accruing deficits through the upcoming local government finance settlement. The Government have also already taken the first steps to getting back on track to end homelessness, including investing over £1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year—an extra £316 million compared with the previous year—to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and to prevent rough sleeping. That may sound like an objectively good thing to do—which of us thinks that families could possibly thrive in temporary accommodation? —but having looked at the books, I am also extremely worried about the cost of homelessness and temporary accommodation to councils. The aim of the investment is therefore not just to stop the terrible moral stain of homelessness, but to help maintain the structural integrity and funding of our councils. On top of that, the Government are setting the foundations to deliver on our plan for change commitment to build 1.5 million homes in England this Parliament, and will deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation. That investment will also be preventive and help to secure councils’ funding in a better way. To focus on the north-west, the Government are investing to help revitalise our districts, towns and cities and to foster thriving communities. Through the local regeneration fund, the north-west is benefiting from over £1.5 billion of investment, combining the levelling-up fund, the towns fund and the pathfinder pilot scheme. That reduces the monitoring burden on councils and lets them prioritise how they deliver locally, without micromanaging from Whitehall. In Stockport, that includes a £1.2 million active travel package, £4.4 million for Cheadle eco business park, and £8.2 million for Cheadle railway station. We have an ambitious programme of reorganisation taking place across England, ending the two-tier system of local government and establishing single tier councils everywhere, including in Lancashire in the north-west. That streamlined approach to local government will also help it to work better. The north-west, I am very proud to say, has led the way on devolution, as part of the Government’s ambition to see all of England access devolved powers by establishing strategic authorities that can make key decisions to drive economic growth and celebrate our towns and cities. Greater Manchester combined authority and the fantastic Liverpool city region are two excellent and long-standing examples in our region of what can come when devolution happens. In particular, Greater Manchester has secured a £630 million single funding settlement under its trailblazing devolution deal. That replaces fragmented funding pots and gives the combined authority greater flexibility to allocate funds across priority areas. It has been a pleasure, both in my previous role and this one, to work with Mayor Andy Burnham to bring the vision of city governance for Greater Manchester to life, and to devolve functions from the UK Government to Greater Manchester so that he can integrate services and work with local authority leaders to get the best service for residents. I thank the hon. Member for Cheadle and everybody who has contributed for the insightful points raised and their ongoing dedication to making sure that local government—our councils—in the north-west have the most powerful voice in this place. We cannot overstate the damage done to the foundations of local government over the past decade and a half. Change has begun and we are ready to listen to all local authorities about how we get this right. I thank the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate. Question put and agreed to.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve, as ever, under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) and the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for their excellent co-chairing of the all-party group and for bringing this business to the House today. I hope it can be reported back to the Backbench Business Committee that 17 Back Benchers contributed, that hon. Members across the House care deeply about this issue, and that it would be good to have more parliamentary time dedicated to this important subject. It is clear from this debate that there is appetite across the House to get this right. The APPG’s recent report provides excellent food for thought, as we complete the homelessness strategy, and I am grateful for it. I am going to get into serious trouble, but I have checked my diary for 1 o’clock on 11 November and, as far as I can tell, I am free—my diary manager can hate me later, but I think that is a date. I look forward to spending more time discussing the homelessness strategy with colleagues in the all-party group. I never fail to feel lucky when I get home to Rock Ferry, where I live, and shut the front door. I have seen the consequences of homelessness on enough people in my life to know the fear it brings. Hon. Members in all parts of the House, as we have heard, care deeply that the Government have a plan to bring down levels of homelessness. I am hopeful that we can all work together on that. In opposition, it took me the best part of a decade to get a small number of new homes built in a derelict part of my constituency. That was not good enough. Things have to change. We can all see the number of people sleeping rough on our streets growing. The last annual count of people sleeping rough, which many have mentioned, was two and a half times higher than it was in 2010. It is not good enough. It has to change. There is even more homelessness that we cannot see: the record number of people in temporary accommodation. It has been heartening recently to see a small amount of progress in our efforts to reduce the number of families and children in B&B accommodation, with the latest stats showing a drop—but I cannot say anything other than the facts: children living in B&B accommodation has to be brought to an end. Even if we have seen a small drop, it is not yet good enough. That is why earlier this month the Government announced £84 million additional funding this year for homelessness and rough sleeping, bringing our total investment to record levels—more than £1 billion, and an increase of £316 million on the previous year. Our spending includes more than £644 million for the homelessness prevention grant, and more than £255 million for the rough sleeping prevention and recovery grant. That is a big investment, but, as Members have mentioned, we need a whole-of-Government approach. I will cover that in a moment. but I must also make the point that we will decriminalise rough sleeping by repealing the antiquated Vagrancy Act 1824.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I did mention keeping the matter under review and, as I said, I am sure that we can meet to discuss it. Prevention must be at the heart of our strategy. We heard that from the APPG’s report and I agree with it. That is why we are making record investment into prevention services and why the spending review protected that funding for the next three years. We have done work on top of that to increase it, because it is so important and such a crisis at the moment. As hon. Members have said, however, sometimes housing alone is not enough to tackle homelessness; people need support that is appropriate for their needs to sustain that accommodation. For some people, that means supported housing. Good-quality supported housing can prevent further cycles of homelessness and help people to get back on their feet. I know that we have more to do to make sure that the supported housing system is functioning properly, and we are not stuck with some of the problems that the hon. Member for Harrow East mentioned. We are acting to implement the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. We consulted on locally-led licensing and new national supported housing standards for support and changes to housing benefit, and we will publish our report as soon as possible. I look forward to discussing that further—on 11 November, if not before. We will press forward with the duty for local authorities to produce supported housing strategies, and guidance will come early next year. These strategies will help local authorities to understand how much and what type of supported housing they have, and identify where their unmet need is. A couple of Members correctly mentioned support for victims of domestic abuse and refuge providers. We want to take action on that; I have spoken to the Minister for Safeguarding and we anticipate working together on it. We know that we cannot fix the housing crisis overnight, and that we have to act now to support people who are facing the worst forms of homelessness. That is why we are ensuring that people in temporary accommodation today are in accommodation that is suitable for their needs. I say again that we still have the underlying causes of homelessness—not enough homes and insufficient incomes—and a real crisis in rough sleeping and long-term rough sleeping, as mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree. I agree that this is a desperate situation that needs attention through the strategy. Coming into this role, I have been utterly shocked by the situation regarding the use of B&Bs and our children. That is why we are working with the 20 local authorities with the highest level of bed and breakfast use for homeless families to identify solutions that actually work for their local circumstances. Backed by £8 million-worth of funding, the emergency accommodation reduction pilots will kick-start new initiatives to try to find the best possible way to get families into better accommodation. Whether through local authorities expanding what they are able to provide because of the investment we are giving, or preventing the use of B&Bs in the first place, we are working hard to try to make that happen. I will finish there, as we will have more opportunities to discuss this issue. I welcome the involvement of all colleagues, and I stand ready to work with everybody on it. The Government inherited a crisis. We have tried to make some progress quickly, and I hope that colleagues will see that I have wasted no time in getting more money to local authorities to help now, while we complete the strategy. In the end, the long-term approach is what we need. I thank again my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree and the hon. Member for Harrow East for securing this debate and setting out that case. I look forward to working with all Members in this House on our shared goals. No one in this House can be comfortable while our fellow citizens experience such discomfort. None of us believes that our future is secure while our children live in poverty. I do not think that anybody who has taken part in this debate will rest until those injustices are brought to an end.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I am conscious that I have a million questions to answer.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am sure I will be meeting a lot of hon. Members regarding the fair funding review—he should not worry about that. I hear the point he makes about the indices of multiple deprivation, and we will have more to say about it very shortly. I know the situation in London only too well from my work over the past year. It is important to make sure that children in London do not grow up in poverty. The strategy we will publish on homelessness will get to the heart of the problem, with more homes incorporating all the work that we have done to change planning. My hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) mentioned planning officers. It is crucially important to get investment there so that we get those homes built. We also need to bring the Renters’ Rights Bill into effect, so that we can abolish section 21 evictions and prevent private renters from being exploited and discriminated against. The hon. Member for Orpington (Gareth Bacon) mentioned the effect of regulation; I wonder if he would support any regulation, because of the argument that we might reduce supply. Nobody wants over-regulation, but are we really saying that renters in this country are not vulnerable and in need of more protection? Most people think that is not right. I will work with him to make sure that we do all we can to get it right, but we have got to take a balanced approach.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  That question was raised in the debate, as my hon. Friend rightly says. We are keeping the homelessness code of guidance under review, which includes the issue of out-of-area placements. I am particularly concerned about disruption to children’s education; if any Member wanted to give me specific examples that can feed into the homelessness strategy and demonstrate what is wrong, I would welcome that. I hope that also answers the questions raised about reviewing the guidance. Separately from the funding that I just mentioned, we are also providing a huge investment in the local authority housing fund, which is there for councils to buy better accommodation and stop using expensive bed and breakfast hotels. That funding, we think, can get us up to 5,000 extra homes. Councils need funding certainty and flexibility to provide appropriate support to those who need it, which is why this Government are providing the first multi-year funding settlement in a decade. We are simplifying our approach to funding local government so that it can work flexibly to deliver on our shared priorities and make sure that people who need accommodation and support get it. Numerous colleagues asked about multi-year funding. It is absolutely crucial, which is why we are providing it to councils, and I will work with organisations to make sure that we get more stability in the system. Those are the things that are happening already, but I know we have to go further. Later this year we will publish our long-term homelessness strategy. My predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali), did a great amount of work, on which I will build. We have heard from colleagues that there is a deep understanding of the importance of prevention, so I want to get this done as quickly as possible. We need to get that strategy out of the door and into the action and delivery phase. I say to colleagues, “Work with me to make sure we can get it done as quickly as possible.” A couple of colleagues asked about the inter-ministerial group. I have already spoken to some ministerial colleagues on that group. We will meet formally very shortly, and I am sure those meetings will keep going—as colleagues have said—under the chairship of the Secretary of State. There are areas, including the strategy to reduce violence against women and girls, the child poverty strategy and our house building goal, where that homelessness strategy will need to connect with the other bits of work that the Government are doing. I am very seized of that. Colleagues will know that I spent some significant time working on the child poverty strategy, so I feel able to hit the ground running and work with my colleagues, the Safeguarding Minister, the Housing Minister and Health Ministers, to make sure that we get this done in a good way and as quickly as possible.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As I have said a number of times on different aspects of this policy, the process is under way. If the hon. Member would like to write to me directly, I will make sure that she receives a response.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I can certainly confirm that democracy will not die. I know that officials in the Department will have heard what the hon. Lady has said, and I will accept her question as representations on the issue of local government.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As I mentioned some moments ago, reorganisation creates an opportunity for simpler and clearer local services. I look forward to working with Members across the House to get it right, particularly in tackling some of the issues that the hon. Gentleman mentions.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I responded to the right hon. Member’s colleague from Leicestershire, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), just a moment ago, and I refer him to that answer. We have a process under way, and I will be engaging with colleagues right across the House on it. If the right hon. Member would like to get in touch with me directly, I would be happy to receive his representations.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am unclear about the exact details of what the hon. Member is raising, but if he would like to write to me or the Secretary of State providing details, we will make sure that he receives a swift response.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  It is important that we get that right, and we will have further discussions about it shortly. I might disagree with my hon. Friend on the importance of Pride in Place, which will turn around some of the decline created by the Conservative party.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Local government reorganisation will create opportunities to improve public services, efficiency and clarity. The final proposals from councils in Essex were submitted by 26 September, and we anticipate launching a statutory consultation in November. I am sure we will discuss the right hon. Gentleman’s points in detail over the weeks and months to come.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  The Chair of the Select Committee makes the case extremely well. If anybody in this Chamber is not worried about temporary accommodation, they are not paying attention; that is how serious this is. It is terrible for our kids, and for the taxpayer, because it is so expensive. I will follow up with her. A lot of work has already been done on the homelessness strategy. We want to get it confirmed as soon as possible. I will engage fully with the Select Committee on the strategy to ensure that we get it right, and we will come back to her shortly with the details of how we will do that together.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I refer the hon. Gentleman to what I just said to the Chair of the Select Committee, but let me confirm again that any child in temporary accommodation, particularly B&B accommodation, who has not got enough space to do their homework pays the price—not just through what they are going through today, but in the future. We cannot accept that. We cannot stand for it, and we should work together across this House to bring this to an end.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  The party of Liz Truss just doesn’t learn, does it? The Conservatives are happy to make tax policy that is absolute fantasy. People need real homes to live in, not this kind of thing, and the Conservatives simply will not get a hearing until they look at their record and learn to say sorry.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I am aware of my hon. Friend’s work, and the work of Milton Keynes council and others in the city, to bring down the number of rough sleepers. We will take that whole-person approach in the homelessness strategy. I never knowingly avoid a meeting with an APPG, so I am sure that we will get that arranged shortly.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  The Government inherited a homelessness crisis; there were record numbers of people in temporary accommodation, and rough sleeping had doubled. That is why my predecessor got together the inter-ministerial group on homelessness very quickly. It has met four times, and has established the principles of the strategy, having sought full input from across Government. That strategy is on its way, but just last week, the Government announced a further £84 million in this financial year to support people who are sleeping rough or who are homeless.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point. Homelessness can be about rough sleeping, but there is also hidden homelessness. Our forthcoming strategy needs to consider all that in the round. He asks me what lesson I take from what happened a few years ago—and, I would argue, from how we reduced rough sleeping in the past. I would say that politics is about choices. We took the choice last week to invest, in-year, an extra £84 million in preventing and addressing homelessness. That is the right thing to ensure that everybody in this country is safe and has a roof over their head.