This Government is committed to supporting young people to earn or learn, including those who face additional barriers to work, such as young people living in supported housing. Through our Youth Guarantee, we are investing in more opportunities for young people to build skills, gain experience and move into work or further learning.

I recognise that young people living in supported housing often face additional barriers to employment, making tailored and accessible support particularly important.

Connect to Work is DWP's voluntary supported employment programme, delivered by local authorities. It helps people who need specialist intensive support to enter and sustain employment - care leavers and people with experience of homelessness are eligible to access Connect to Work. Connect to Work is locally led to enable delivery to integrate with other services supporting the groups it is designed to help. In addition, local authorities have flexibility to use the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant to provide employment support, including specialist provision for young people and residents of supported housing.

Co-location and outreach are a valuable and well-established way to engage people who may be less likely to visit jobcentres. Work coaches provide support in a range of settings, including housing and homeless services, across the country. This allows support to be delivered in trusted settings that are familiar and accessible to the people using them.

This principle is at the heart of our expansion of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations across Great Britain. Youth Hubs bring together employment support with wider services and every Hub will provide access to housing advice and support, alongside skills, mental health and employer support. Local areas have the flexibility to design their offer in Youth Hubs around local need, including through co-location and referral arrangements with housing services.

That approach is also reflected in our Youth Trailblazer programme, where local areas are testing innovative ways of joining up employment, skills, health and wider support services for young people.

The Government recently made an important change which addresses a significant barrier to employment for people living in supported housing and temporary accommodation. The interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit previously created a financial cliff-edge, weakening work incentives for young people in supported housing. This October, we introduced new earnings disregards within Housing Benefit for residents of supported housing and temporary accommodation, increasing their incentive to work and increase earnings.

A table listing all 630 operational DWP Jobcentre site locations has been provided.

If a different interpretation of the question was intended, the Department would be happy to consider the matter further.

Applicants must specify the proposed operating area for the service as part of their Automated Passenger Service (APS) permit application.

Consent is required from all relevant licensing authorities or franchising bodies within the area in which the service is intended to operate. Where consent is granted and an APS permit is issued, the service will be licensed to operate only within the specified area.

GBG is in the process of being established, including details of its corporate set-up. It is part of GBE however, which is headquartered in Aberdeen.

Many hon. Members have raised the issue of local authorities using their temporary accommodation discharge narrative, and I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and other Members to discuss this further.

Hundreds of people are being placed in my constituency by London councils. They are being moved away from their support networks through out-of-borough placements and without proper notification. Often these are vulnerable families with high needs, which then have to be met by overstretched services at Medway council. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can improve this system and support the authorities that are dealing with the bulk of out-of-borough placements?

The application window for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme remains open until 30 November 2026. As applications continue to be received and assessed, it would not be appropriate to comment on individual applications or provide detailed breakdowns of applicants at this stage.

The Government is committed to expanding the Intensive Supervision Courts (ISCs) and has set out plans to increase the number of sites from four to eleven by 2029. This will include Women’s, Substance Misuse and Prolific Offender models.

Locations for this expansion were identified through an open Expression of Interest, promoted widely through national and local criminal justice partners. Applications were required to demonstrate operational readiness across probation and the courts, judicial sponsorship, and strength of local partnerships.

Essex justice services did not submit an application during this process and was therefore not considered as part of this expansion. As no application was received, the Department has not assessed the number of women in Essex who might have benefited from the implementation of a Women’s ISC.

The first three sites of this expansion launched in October 2026, with implementation of the remaining sites ongoing. There are currently no plans to expand to further locations at this time.

Arts Council England (ACE) operates at arm's length from the government, and funding decisions are made independently by ACE on merit based published criteria. However, DCMS is committed to delivering high quality arts and cultural activity in every region of the country.

The government is working with ACE on its plans for the next National Portfolio Investment Programme. To help ensure location does not disadvantage arts organisations’ access to the Portfolio, ACE will simplify the application process to make it easier to apply for funding.

In the information published in June regarding the 2028-2033 National Portfolio Investment Programme, the Arts Council confirmed that one of its objectives is to increase investment and delivery in places with historically lower investment, engagement or both. Culture Priority Places will inform decision-making in the next Portfolio, to ensure the benefits of arts and culture can be felt where need is greatest. The Arts Council will also bring in the views of local citizens into this process, to ensure that communities across England have more input into the cultural offer in their area.

According to ACE's Area Report Cornwall received £9.43 per head in 25/26, compared to £12.75 in the South West and £14.75 in England. Total ACE funding for Cornwall across the 2023–26 investment period stands at £14,522,985. This covers a range of organisations, including NPO IntoBodmin, a community and arts organisation which received £411,992 in funding for 2023–26. Total funding for dance organisations in Cornwall for 2023–26 was £277,396.

Further, as part of the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund, earlier this year, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange in Cornwall was awarded £726,599 through the first round of Creative Foundations Fund, which allocated £14.4 million to eight arts and cultural venues across the South West to address urgent infrastructure needs. The second round of the Creative Foundations Fund is currently in progress.

The Department has not assessed whether bus franchising schemes have affected the geographical density of local route networks.

To date, the only areas outside London to have introduced bus franchising are Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool currently in the process of implementation.

The Bus Services Act 2025 places passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of the industry. It moves power away from central Government and operators, and towards local leaders, who know their areas best. The Act expands the options available to local authorities so that each area can pursue the model of bus service delivery that is right for it, while also safeguarding the needs of passengers.

We recognise the challenges significant housing and population growth can place on primary care health infrastructure. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambition to create a Neighbourhood Health Service, shifting care from hospitals into communities and bringing more integrated, preventative care closer to people’s homes. The 10 Year Capital Plan, published in July, sets out how we will support delivery of that vision through capital investment.

The Government is investing over approximately £200 million of Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation funding to tackle historic underinvestment into the primary care estate. This funding continues to support upgrades to existing general practice surgeries, allowing practices to offer more appointments.

A further £200 million will support upgrading the existing estate to deliver approximately 50 neighbourhood health centres through upgrades. We announced Wave 1 of Neighbourhood Health Centre upgrade schemes in March 2026, with 27 sites across England selected to bring care closer to home. We are also assessing proposals for a pipeline of new build neighbourhood health centres.

Proposals for future waves of neighbourhood health centres are currently being assessed against published criteria, as set out in the Neighbourhood Health Centre Guidance, with final decisions on future schemes yet to be confirmed. Further information on the criteria is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/neighbourhood-health-centres/

Projects that meet the criteria will be invited to develop detailed business cases before any final funding decisions are taken. Rollout for neighbourhood health centres will start in the areas of greatest need, with investment prioritised where it can have the greatest impact and address material gaps in community and neighbourhood health infrastructure.

Integrated care boards (ICBs), like the Central East ICB which covers the South Hertfordshire area, are responsible for commissioning, including planning, securing, and monitoring, services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including general practice, in each local area. ICBs should evaluate the needs of the populations for which they are responsible and plan service provision as required.

The Department continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government to determine how the developer contributions system can be strengthened and improved to support the planning and delivery of the required social infrastructure in areas of population growth.

The Government is tackling the root causes of homelessness, we have set out a 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, backed by a £39 billion investment. We are also increasing the supply of good quality, affordable temporary accommodation by delivering up to 5,000 homes by 2030 through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This is the largest investment in the fund to date at £950 million. Alongside this, we have reformed funding for temporary accommodation through the Local Government Finance Settlement so that resources more accurately reflect local demand and costs, helping to target support where pressures are greatest.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance is also clear that authorities should minimise the disruption to the education of children, particularly at critical times (such as ahead of examinations), and that the placing local authority should liaise with the receiving local authority to ensure arrangements are in place to meet the child’s educational needs. Account should also be taken of medical facilities and any other support provided to the household, including any health and wellbeing support to ensure they are accessible and available near any accommodation offered.

As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are actively engaging with stakeholders, including local authorities, to understand the challenges. We will use this to inform decisions on addressing poor practice and suitability and clarifying expectations on sending and receiving councils.

In May we published the first of the toolkits committed to in the National Plan on Local Performance and Accountability. This includes detail on the requirements via grant conditions for local authorities to produce a policy to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and to set out how the local authority will mitigate disruption and avoid multiple moves, ensure access to support services (particularly where safeguarding issues exist), and ensure access to key facilities (including cooking and laundry facilities, storage and Wi-Fi).

The Government is tackling the root causes of homelessness, we have set out a 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, backed by a £39 billion investment. We are also increasing the supply of good quality, affordable temporary accommodation by delivering up to 5,000 homes by 2030 through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This is the largest investment in the fund to date at £950 million. Alongside this, we have reformed funding for temporary accommodation through the Local Government Finance Settlement so that resources more accurately reflect local demand and costs, helping to target support where pressures are greatest.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance is also clear that authorities should minimise the disruption to the education of children, particularly at critical times (such as ahead of examinations), and that the placing local authority should liaise with the receiving local authority to ensure arrangements are in place to meet the child’s educational needs. Account should also be taken of medical facilities and any other support provided to the household, including any health and wellbeing support to ensure they are accessible and available near any accommodation offered.

As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are actively engaging with stakeholders, including local authorities, to understand the challenges. We will use this to inform decisions on addressing poor practice and suitability and clarifying expectations on sending and receiving councils.

In May we published the first of the toolkits committed to in the National Plan on Local Performance and Accountability. This includes detail on the requirements via grant conditions for local authorities to produce a policy to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and to set out how the local authority will mitigate disruption and avoid multiple moves, ensure access to support services (particularly where safeguarding issues exist), and ensure access to key facilities (including cooking and laundry facilities, storage and Wi-Fi).

The Government is tackling the root causes of homelessness, we have set out a 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, backed by a £39 billion investment. We are also increasing the supply of good quality, affordable temporary accommodation by delivering up to 5,000 homes by 2030 through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This is the largest investment in the fund to date at £950 million. Alongside this, we have reformed funding for temporary accommodation through the Local Government Finance Settlement so that resources more accurately reflect local demand and costs, helping to target support where pressures are greatest.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance is also clear that authorities should minimise the disruption to the education of children, particularly at critical times (such as ahead of examinations), and that the placing local authority should liaise with the receiving local authority to ensure arrangements are in place to meet the child’s educational needs. Account should also be taken of medical facilities and any other support provided to the household, including any health and wellbeing support to ensure they are accessible and available near any accommodation offered.

As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are actively engaging with stakeholders, including local authorities, to understand the challenges. We will use this to inform decisions on addressing poor practice and suitability and clarifying expectations on sending and receiving councils.

In May we published the first of the toolkits committed to in the National Plan on Local Performance and Accountability. This includes detail on the requirements via grant conditions for local authorities to produce a policy to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and to set out how the local authority will mitigate disruption and avoid multiple moves, ensure access to support services (particularly where safeguarding issues exist), and ensure access to key facilities (including cooking and laundry facilities, storage and Wi-Fi).

The Government is tackling the root causes of homelessness, we have set out a 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, backed by a £39 billion investment. We are also increasing the supply of good quality, affordable temporary accommodation by delivering up to 5,000 homes by 2030 through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This is the largest investment in the fund to date at £950 million. Alongside this, we have reformed funding for temporary accommodation through the Local Government Finance Settlement so that resources more accurately reflect local demand and costs, helping to target support where pressures are greatest.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance is also clear that authorities should minimise the disruption to the education of children, particularly at critical times (such as ahead of examinations), and that the placing local authority should liaise with the receiving local authority to ensure arrangements are in place to meet the child’s educational needs. Account should also be taken of medical facilities and any other support provided to the household, including any health and wellbeing support to ensure they are accessible and available near any accommodation offered.

As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are actively engaging with stakeholders, including local authorities, to understand the challenges. We will use this to inform decisions on addressing poor practice and suitability and clarifying expectations on sending and receiving councils.

In May we published the first of the toolkits committed to in the National Plan on Local Performance and Accountability. This includes detail on the requirements via grant conditions for local authorities to produce a policy to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and to set out how the local authority will mitigate disruption and avoid multiple moves, ensure access to support services (particularly where safeguarding issues exist), and ensure access to key facilities (including cooking and laundry facilities, storage and Wi-Fi).

The Government is tackling the root causes of homelessness, we have set out a 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, backed by a £39 billion investment. We are also increasing the supply of good quality, affordable temporary accommodation by delivering up to 5,000 homes by 2030 through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This is the largest investment in the fund to date at £950 million. Alongside this, we have reformed funding for temporary accommodation through the Local Government Finance Settlement so that resources more accurately reflect local demand and costs, helping to target support where pressures are greatest.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance is also clear that authorities should minimise the disruption to the education of children, particularly at critical times (such as ahead of examinations), and that the placing local authority should liaise with the receiving local authority to ensure arrangements are in place to meet the child’s educational needs. Account should also be taken of medical facilities and any other support provided to the household, including any health and wellbeing support to ensure they are accessible and available near any accommodation offered.

As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are actively engaging with stakeholders, including local authorities, to understand the challenges. We will use this to inform decisions on addressing poor practice and suitability and clarifying expectations on sending and receiving councils.

In May we published the first of the toolkits committed to in the National Plan on Local Performance and Accountability. This includes detail on the requirements via grant conditions for local authorities to produce a policy to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and to set out how the local authority will mitigate disruption and avoid multiple moves, ensure access to support services (particularly where safeguarding issues exist), and ensure access to key facilities (including cooking and laundry facilities, storage and Wi-Fi).