Speeches by Khan.

“This is not a new issue. Every Government have pledged that one of their core priorities is to end homelessness. In terms of some of the many complexities that you have highlighted around this, a lot of work has already been done in the past on how we can end it and there are learnings that can be taken from Everybody …”

“I have one final follow-up question. On the rental auctions, I appreciate that a current phased pilot is being reviewed. At the minute, it does not necessarily give flexibility around buildings that have been sat empty for a longer period of time, as opposed to shorter. Will there be opportunities for local authorities…”

“Thank you very much for answering so many of our questions. My last question is about our town centres and high streets, which are such an important part of so many of our local communities. You have just talked about giving that power locally. What safeguards are going to be put in place to enable businesses on our hi…”

“I have one final follow-up question. Is anything going to be done to discourage out-of-borough placements, particularly where you see people being sent hundreds of miles away from their family network, their friends or their original authority?”

“Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister, for being here today and also for recognising some of the big challenges we face, not only with the housing crisis but with homelessness more generally. What has the inter-ministerial group on ending homelessness achieved so far?”

“I appreciate that you have set out why it is challenging to set out a timeline at this stage, but is there a targeted approach to this, in terms of how you would see a year-on-year reduction in rough sleeping particularly? Is there anything that you are working towards, or is this still something that you are not able …”

“Thank you. That is very helpful. We have talked a lot already about temporary accommodation and the pressures it places, and also the need to have that long-term strategy in place to deal with the supply issue. However, there is an immediate pressure and there is an immediate need in certain places to tackle some of th…”

“14. What steps her Department is taking to support community ownership of local assets.”

“I recently met the friends of the Flying Saucer pub, a community group in my constituency who are working to bring this asset of community value back into local hands. Will the Minister assure my constituents that the Government are committed to supporting the retention of community assets such as this, and will he agr…”

“I was going to ask for a bit more detail about that, Paul, but you have talked very passionately about Housing First and how it works, as has the rest of the panel. I have seen examples of Housing First, and there are areas where it works very well, as we have heard. There are some areas where it perhaps has not had qu…”

“I have a very quick follow-up. I appreciate everything you have said about the challenges local authorities are facing. As a Committee, that is something that we have talked a lot about already. Are there any examples of best practice or good practice that we could perhaps look at and learn from, where local authoritie…”

“We are often told that there are very complex reasons why people specifically end up rough sleeping. It would just be helpful to understand why you think certain groups are particularly impacted or more likely to be rough sleeping than others.”

“I have a question on the comment around prevention, which I completely take. Shelter’s data and other data has shown that, particularly over the last decade but certainly year on year, there has been an increase in both rough sleeping and homelessness. I just wanted to understand from the panel what the specific reason…”

“I am Naushabah Khan, Labour Member for Gillingham and Rainham.”

“This question has already been raised and some conversation about why the pressures exist across London and the south-east has already happened. Thank you for that. I want to do a bit of a follow up because I have seen some freedom of information data that suggests that some boroughs are sending close to about 3,000 ho…”

“Hannah has already answered the question that I had, which was to do with having some standards and guidance because I see from my inbox, often not from placements from within the borough, that standards are inconsistent. I wanted to understand whether you feel that standards are applied across the board across local a…”

“If you, for example, see that level of movement, is there enough communication in local authorities to support and protect children and those being moved out? For example, are there enough disincentives in place for an authority not to place out of area and make it an exceptional circumstance rather than a standard pra…”

“What are the impacts of those out-of-area placements on outcomes, particularly educational outcomes for children? Is enough happening within local authorities to minimise this disruption?”

“I declare an interest: I used to work for Saint Mungo’s, which is on the panel today. My question is about out-of-area placements. How far outside of the area are some local authorities placing families in temporary accommodation?”

“Q I have a question about the wider implications of the Bill and the impact on local authorities. For example, it would be helpful to understand whether you feel the abolishment of section 21 will have a wider implication, and how it might help to tackle some of the bigger homelessness challenges that local authorities…”