Sleeping Rough
Communities and Local Government

Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the percentage increase in rough sleeping has been since the introduction of new counting estimates.

Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)

The last Government's methodology ignored the true scale of the problem of rough sleeping. So we acted decisively to introduce a more accurate assessment of rough sleeping levels. Figures can be found on my Department's website:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/roughsleepingautumn2011

Last year my Department also provided investment to roll out No Second Night Out—a new initiative which increases outreach, encourages greater reporting and public scrutiny, and ensures vulnerable rough sleepers get helped off the streets more quickly. And we recently funded the voluntary sector to launch StreetLink—a new website to enable members of the public to alert local agencies to rough sleepers in their area.

I would add that we have maintained funding for Homelessness Grant at 2010-11 levels with £400 million over four years to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. We have also protected Supporting People funding—at £6.5 billion over the spending review period—to help the most vulnerable.