Is the Minister aware that, under the Government, the number of homeless people has more than doubled and is well on the way to being trebled, that nearly 3 million people have suffered the tragedy of homelessness and that this can be attributed to factors that are directly influenced by the Government's policies, such as the decline in the number of units in the public and private sectors, the inadequate number of new builds for purchase in the private sector and a tragic increase in mortgage defaults which, at 120,000, have nearly quintupled under the Government and are accelerating?

Does the hon. Gentleman agree with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool that the provision of adequate housing is not only a duty of Government but a moral imperative? Does he agree with the Catholic bishops' conference that the crisis of homelessness under the Government is not only a fact but a scandal?