To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what reviews his Department plans of the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation by local authorities. [18577]

We monitor the extent to which local authorities use bed-and-breakfast accommodation for homeless households through the quarterly statistics that authorities supply to us.Bed-and-breakfast hotels may have a role to play as very short-term accommodation, but, as my Department's Code of Guidance on the homelessness legislation states, should be used only as a last resort.