Written questions by Anderson.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of local authority powers to tackle antisocial drug taking.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with water companies on water supply to new housing developments.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with water companies on timely (a) maintenance and (b) repair of fire hydrants.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that new housing developments have adequate water supply for local Fire and Rescue services.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure people living in social housing receive sufficient decoration allowance following home repairs carried out by a local authority.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to introduce stricter enforcement on the size of Traveller encampments.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce new powers to allow local authorities to address illegal Traveller encampments.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, whether their department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the amount offered in decoration allowance following repairs to social housing being carried out by a local authority.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce veteran homelessness.

The Prime Minister announced an ambition to house all veterans in housing need in September 2024. The government made changes to social housing allocations regulations to exempt all veterans of the Regular Armed Forces from local connection and residency tests to facilitate their access to social housing in England. In November 2025, we committed an additional £12 million to vital homelessness services through the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme. Op FORTITUDE has also been extended, putting the service that has already housed over 1,100 veterans on a sustainable footing. These programmes will deliver support services across the UK for veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness, fulfilling the Prime Minister’s pledge that homes will be there for heroes. The Government launched VALOUR, which aims to improve coordination of and access to services for veterans, develop veterans' support centres and gather timely data to ensure veterans' needs are being met.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to address the low uptake for local authority homelessness assessments amongst young people.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of houses in the UK with inadequate access space for emergency service vehicles.

Approved Document B (Fire safety) provides statutory guidance on meeting the requirements of Part B of the Building Regulations. It includes provisions relating to adequate vehicular access for fire and rescue services, including requirements on the width, and turning arrangements of access routes, so that fire and rescue service vehicles can both enter and manoeuvre within new housing developments. Building control bodies are responsible for checking that new developments comply with these requirements before work is signed off. The Department does not hold centrally collected data on the number of existing homes with inadequate access space for emergency service vehicles.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure new housing developments are built with adequate space for emergency service vehicles to (a) enter and (b) manoeuvre.

Approved Document B (Fire safety) provides statutory guidance on meeting the requirements of Part B of the Building Regulations. It includes provisions relating to adequate vehicular access for fire and rescue services, including requirements on the width, and turning arrangements of access routes, so that fire and rescue service vehicles can both enter and manoeuvre within new housing developments. Building control bodies are responsible for checking that new developments comply with these requirements before work is signed off. The Department does not hold centrally collected data on the number of existing homes with inadequate access space for emergency service vehicles.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to prevent youth homelessness.

We are taking action across government to provide targeted support to young people and their families at an earlier stage. The government is providing more than £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, which councils can use to meet the needs of people in their area including young people. Through our National Plan to End Homelessness we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by building more homes, tackling poverty and reforming renters’ rights. We have also committed to develop a national Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit and develop a dedicated chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, to support councils to work collaboratively with other public services to prevent youth homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help tackle youth homelessness.

We are taking action across government to provide targeted support to young people and their families at an earlier stage. The government is providing more than £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, which councils can use to meet the needs of people in their area including young people. Through our National Plan to End Homelessness we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by building more homes, tackling poverty and reforming renters’ rights. We have also committed to develop a national Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit and develop a dedicated chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, to support councils to work collaboratively with other public services to prevent youth homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) understand and (b) tackle causes of youth homelessness.

We are taking action across government to provide targeted support to young people and their families at an earlier stage. The government is providing more than £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, which councils can use to meet the needs of people in their area including young people. Through our National Plan to End Homelessness we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by building more homes, tackling poverty and reforming renters’ rights. We have also committed to develop a national Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit and develop a dedicated chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, to support councils to work collaboratively with other public services to prevent youth homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to address youth homelessness.

We are taking action across government to provide targeted support to young people and their families at an earlier stage. The government is providing more than £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, which councils can use to meet the needs of people in their area including young people. Through our National Plan to End Homelessness we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by building more homes, tackling poverty and reforming renters’ rights. We have also committed to develop a national Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit and develop a dedicated chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, to support councils to work collaboratively with other public services to prevent youth homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help support young people who are at risk of becoming homeless.

We are taking action across government to provide targeted support to young people and their families at an earlier stage. The government is providing more than £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, which councils can use to meet the needs of people in their area including young people. Through our National Plan to End Homelessness we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by building more homes, tackling poverty and reforming renters’ rights. We have also committed to develop a national Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit and develop a dedicated chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, to support councils to work collaboratively with other public services to prevent youth homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the costs to local authorities of providing social care and related services to asylum seekers.

Ministers and officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engage regularly with counterparts in the Home Office on a range of issues, including on matters relating to local government. The Home Office has overall responsibility for asylum policy, and continues to work closely with local authorities to understand the pressures arising from the provision of asylum seeker services including the impact on wider local authority obligations and plans. For more information about social care spend on asylum seekers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 111400 on 5 February 2026. As has been the case under successive administrations, government does not normally disclose details of internal discussions.

Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of levels of homelessness.

The government regularly publishes data on homelessness on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce homelessness in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 99477 on 19 December 2025.