Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government written question – answered at on 11 October 2018.
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library any correspondence in the last year between his Department and local authorities on the collection and reporting of local rough sleeping data.
The latest statistics on homelessness and rough sleeping in England are published and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
This includes statistics for the annual rough sleeping counts and estimates. In 2010 we overhauled the methodology for counting the number of people sleeping rough, so every council now has to report the scale of the problem in their area. Prior to 2010 figures under-estimated the number as they did not require all local authorities to submit a return. Guidance on this system is published and can be found at:
The rough sleeping counts and estimates are single night snapshots of the number of people sleeping rough in local authority areas. It is up to local authorities to decide the best way of coming to a robust figure that reflects the number of people sleeping rough. The process for preparing for this is run by Homeless Link, which are funded by my Department to provide independent verification, validation, and guidance to local authorities. Homeless Link verify all street counts, liaising with the Count Coordinator to check that the guidance has been followed in the planning of the count and conduct detailed verification of estimates. Correspondence is therefore primarily between Homeless Link and local authorities. The guidance they provide is published online and is available at:
This Government is clear that no one should have to sleep rough. As part of our recently published rough sleeping strategy we have also committed to establish data pilots by summer 2019 to develop and test an outcomes framework for homelessness and rough sleeping.
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