Clause 17 - Homelessness reviews
Homes Bill
10:30 am
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Coventry North East, Labour)
I thank you, Mr. Stevenson, and other Committee members for the good wishes that have been offered to me in my new position. I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, North has assumed my previous position and is riding shotgun on the Bill. I am sure that he will do a better job than I ever did and I congratulate him.
Before I deal with the amendment, I want to let the Committee know that I have had a brief conversation with the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington. I told him that we had been updated constantly on progress at home. He said not to believe a word that the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) said, because he was told nothing. That may give us an insight into how the hon. Member for Bath approaches other things—I do not know. He said that we would come later to a more taxing amendment tabled by my hon. Friends. It does not surprise me that Labour Members are capable of tabling more taxing amendments than the Liberal Democrats—that comment should totally ruin our old relationship and let us make a new start.
I am grateful that the hon. Member for Bath has raised the important issue of advice, but he has anticipated my response. It is our intention that the provisions should not only address the consequences of homelessness, but help to avert it. Prevention through advice, assistance and multi-agency working will be an important aspect of all homelessness strategies and reviews. The availability of housing advice, its quality and extent, should and will have to be considered as part of homelessness reviews.
As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, we are on the well-trodden path of argument A. We are not persuaded that every issue addressed in the review should be listed in the Bill. We take the view that housing advice falls clearly under clause 17(1)(b)—the requirement that reviews should look at the activities carried out for purposes relating to homelessness and its prevention. We will, however, ensure that that is fully addressed in the revised code of guidance.
The hon. Gentleman says that he has seen the code of guidance and that it does not make the appropriate references. I accept that it might have helped had the pages been numbered, but under homelessness reviews, halfway down the page, the first part of the suggestion box says:
``Sources of data on homelessness . . . —evidence from advisory services (eg Housing Advice Centres, Citizens Advice Bureau).''