Local Government: Homelessness
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how her Department holds local authorities to account for their performance (a) in commissioning third party homelessness accommodation, support and prevention services and (b) when operating their own homelessness accommodation, support and prevention services.
Answered by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
The Government has set clear expectations for local authority performance through the legislative framework on homelessness, the National Plan to End Homelessness and the local performance and accountability toolkit. Local authorities have a legislative responsibility to develop Homelessness Strategies setting out how they will address homelessness in their area and, as a condition of funding, to publish and regularly update Action Plans that underpin these Strategies.
The Department reviews local performance against the Local Outcomes Framework, using relevant data and intelligence gathered through engagement with MHCLG’s expert homelessness and rough sleeping advisers.
Where concerns arise, the Department will work with the authority to understand the issues and support improvement. Where concerns are sustained and remain unresolved, they may be escalated within the Department. Where there is evidence of systemic weaknesses, the Department may consider whether the authority has failed to meet its Best Value Duty. Where grant conditions have not been met, the Department reserves the right to withhold, reduce or suspend funding.
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