Committee publication · Correspondence · 22 August 2025 · HC 1199
Letter from the Prime Minister relating to his appearance before the Committee on 21 July 2025, dated 12 August 2025
From: Liaison Committee (Commons)
Inquiry: The work of the Prime Minister
Summary
Prime Minister's follow-up letter to the Liaison Committee dated 12 August 2025, providing additional detail on commitments made during his appearance on 21 July 2025. Covers temporary accommodation and homelessness, work coach appointment times, charity financial support, BBC Charter Renewal, and cyber training in Wales.
Key findings
- Government investing £1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services in 2025/26 (£233 million increase), with £39 billion committed to Social and Affordable Homes Programme to deliver 300,000 social and affordable homes at 60% social rent.
- Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots (£8 million across 20 local authorities) have achieved significant reduction in households with children in B&Bs for over six weeks, particularly in Tower Hamlets, Croydon, and Bournemouth.
- £950 million allocated to fourth round of Local Authority Housing Fund to deliver up to 5,000 homes; £500 million new fund for asylum seeker accommodation to replace hotel-based system.
- Work coaches provide 30-minute initial appointments for Intensive Work Search customers, followed by 13 weeks of minimum 10-minute appointments and fortnightly minimum 10-minute follow-ups, with discretion to increase support.
- Charities benefit from tax reliefs including Gift Aid and up to 80% business rates relief (100% at local authority discretion); Dormant Assets Scheme expected to release £440 million for England 2024-28.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
homelessnesspublic-financeasylumemployment-supportcharities
Key actors
Prime Minister, Dame Meg Hillier, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Nick Smith, National Cyber Security Centre, Welsh Government, Liaison Committee
Notable line
“… building new homes is a priority for this Government. We inherited a homelessness crisis, with record levels ofhouseholds in temporary accommodation, and rough sleeping two and a halftimes higher than in”
Key Quotes
“We have already taken the first steps to getting back on track to ending homelessness, including making a £1 billion investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year (2025/26) …”
“Through our Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots, supported by £8 million, we are working with 20 local authorities with some of the highest levels of B&B use for temporary accommodation to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives …”
“As a standard, all customers within the Intensive Work Search group who are out of work have an initial 30-minute Claimant Commitment appointment followed by 1 3 weeks of appointments at a minimum appointment length of 1 0 minutes …”
“Buildings that are wholly or mainly used for qualifying charitable purposes are eligible for up to 80% business rates relief, which can be topped up to 1 00% at the local authority's discretion.”
“… the Dormant Assets Strategy, published in June 2025, announced that the Scheme is expected to release £440 million for England over 2024-28.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗