Whether or not use of a hotel to accommodate asylum seekers would constitute a material change of use requiring planning permission will be a matter of fact and degree for the local planning authority to determine in the first instance, depending on the individual circumstances of each case.

The Home Office continues to work with a range of stakeholders to fulfil its legal obligations, whilst delivering on this Government’s commitment to reduce the overall cost of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels by the end of this Parliament.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

This data is not broken down to show the length of stay for individuals.

The Home Office closely monitors length of temporary stay in the contingency asylum accommodation, however, an individual’s stay is determined by a number of factors, such as overall demand and availability of suitable dispersal accommodation. Some individuals will stay for short or longer periods depending on their circumstances.

The Government published its cross-government strategy, 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good', backed by £2 billion, last year. The strategy recognises young people face particular challenges and that mainstream service offers or accommodation may not always be appropriate for those needing higher levels of support.

The £200 millon Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme aims to deliver up to 2,400 homes by March 2025, including tailored accommodation for young people at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping, alongside allocating 3 years' funding for support to meet individual needs.

Through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, we are investing over £530 million in funding to local authorities across 2022-2025 for interventions focused on tackling and preventing rough sleeping. £2.5 million of the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 is going towards funding youth-specific services in local areas.

We engage regularly with the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) on relevant policy areas. For example, YHA are represented at our Access and Engagement Forum, where we discuss implementation of the Environmental Improvement Plan, such as the new commitment for everyone to live within 15 minutes of a green or blue space.

The Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 (EIP23) set’s out government’s delivery plan for improving the environment within a generation.

EIP23 references the Green Recovery Challenge Fund’s Generation Green programme. This programme was led by YHA England and Wales, working with a consortium of fifteen outdoor education providers. Generation Green successfully provided more than 100,000 opportunities to connect young people to nature; and facilitated 659 skilled volunteer roles in the outdoor sector.

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund funding of almost £80m has now been awarded.

The Energy Bills Support Scheme and Alternative Fuel Payment, which together total £600, is being paid to households with a domestic electricity meter. Payments are not made per occupant of a property. The Government has introduced regulations requiring intermediaries, including landlords, to pass through the Energy Bill Support Scheme and Alternative Fuel Payment.

For all eligible non-domestic customers, including businesses and those in the public and voluntary sector, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a discount on energy bills for those organisations whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated in light of global energy prices. This includes establishments such as youth hostels and housing charities on non-domestic tariffs, and the Government expect such establishments to pass on the benefits under the scheme through to the people who live in this kind of accommodation in a reasonable and proportionate way.

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a discount on energy bills for all eligible non-domestic customers whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated in light of global energy prices. This includes establishments such as hostels and supported accommodation on non-domestic tariffs. The Government expect such businesses to pass on the benefits under this scheme to the people who live in this kind of accommodation in a reasonable and proportionate way.

I am pleased that the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) received support from the Culture Recovery Fund and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ Green Recovery Fund to continue the organisation's work within communities.

The Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP), published in June 2021, sets out how we will assist and accelerate the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19. The TRP sets out ambitious and stretching targets to recover inbound visitor numbers and spend, and recover domestic overnight trip volume and spend to 2019 levels, at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict.

The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) helped to fund the Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF), which was a multi-partner consortium project aiming to connect young people to nature. Generation Green, was a project funded by the GRCF, capitalised on the combined reach of the coalition partners of more than two million young people. It has provided more than 100,000 progressive opportunities throughout the project to connect young people to nature. Some of the partners include The Scout Association, The Guide Association, Outward Bound Trust, Field Studies Council and the National Park Authorities. The project prioritised young people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, disadvantaged backgrounds and coastal communities.

According to this report from VisitBritain 10% of all domestic overnight stays in England in 2019 were accommodated in caravans or camping sites. This increases to 20% when only considering domestic overnight holidays (excluding business travel or visiting friends and relatives) - this equated to 9.3m trips in 2019.

The Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP), published in June 2021, sets out how we will assist and accelerate the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19. The TRP sets out ambitious and stretching targets to recover inbound visitor numbers and spend, and recover domestic overnight trip volume and spend to 2019 levels, at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict.

VisitBritain and VisitEngland’s latest international and domestic campaigns aim to drive demand back to Britain and encourage people to holiday at home. These messages will benefit the whole visitor economy, including rural tourism, in every region.

It is absolutely critical that victims of domestic abuse get support and especially when they are in housing need.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, placed new duties on local authorities to ensure that victims and their children across England can access the right support in safe accommodation when they need it. This includes supporting victims in Sanctuary Schemes which provide enhanced physical security measures to a domestic abuse victim's own home where it is safe for them to stay at home.

For those who are homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse, local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable in relation to the applicant and to all members of their household who normally reside with them, or who might reasonably be expected to reside with them. Consideration of whether accommodation is suitable will require an assessment of all aspects of the accommodation in the light of the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household.

In December 2021, we announced that for 2022/2023, local authorities have been allocated £316 million Homelessness Prevention Grant. This includes £5.8 million funding to cover the cost of extending priority need to those who are made homeless as a result of being victim to domestic abuse, following the landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

It is absolutely critical that victims of domestic abuse get support and especially when they are in housing need.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, placed new duties on local authorities to ensure that victims and their children across England can access the right support in safe accommodation when they need it. This includes supporting victims in Sanctuary Schemes which provide enhanced physical security measures to a domestic abuse victim's own home where it is safe for them to stay at home.

For those who are homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse, local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable in relation to the applicant and to all members of their household who normally reside with them, or who might reasonably be expected to reside with them. Consideration of whether accommodation is suitable will require an assessment of all aspects of the accommodation in the light of the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household.

In December 2021, we announced that for 2022/2023, local authorities have been allocated £316 million Homelessness Prevention Grant. This includes £5.8 million funding to cover the cost of extending priority need to those who are made homeless as a result of being victim to domestic abuse, following the landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

The Government has committed over £750 million this year to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

This includes over £202 million across England for the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI), which is more than an 80% increase from the £112 million provided last year. The funding will provide up to 14,500 bed spaces and 2,700 support staff. Within this year's RSI, local authorities were asked to plan for winter and any other surge capacity throughout the year.

We recognise that winter brings with it extra pressures especially with the on-going risk of COVID-19. For this reason, we are we are supporting the voluntary and community sector with the £3.8 million Homelessness Winter Transformation Fund. This funding will help provide safe accommodation that creates a sustained route of the streets by supporting investment in improved accommodation and of self-contained bed spaces over winter 21/22.

Night Shelters that are considering opening this winter should consult their local authorities and consider the COVID-19: provision of night shelters guidance on gov.uk, which was drafted with advice from the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England).

Ministers have visited several hostels or rough sleeping services and will continue to do so in future as Covid-19 restrictions allow. Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on Gov.uk.

Our team of expert rough sleeping advisers work closely with local authorities across the country to support their work to implement the Rough Sleeping Initiative and to provide advice and support on the delivery of their work on rough sleeping, including but not limited to hostels. This includes ensuring that people sleeping rough can be placed into secure accommodation, appropriate for their needs.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level.  For the first phase, the JCVI has advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

If staff working in homeless hostels are captured in phase one due to their age or clinical risk factors they will be prioritised. However the Government, as advised by the JCVI, are not considering vaccinating such workers as a phase one priority at this stage.   Prioritisation decisions for next phase delivery are subject to surveillance and monitoring data and information from phase one, as well as further input from independent scientific experts such as the JCVI. Phase two may include further reduction in hospitalisation and targeted vaccination of those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services.