To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether funding for rough sleepers announced by her Department on 13 November was transferred funding from another area within the Government’s spending plans over the last three years. (171590)

The £70 million Places of Change programme announced on 13 November is new funding from the recent comprehensive spending review (CSR) for the next three years. This funding will continue the work over the past three years under the £90 million Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (which runs until March 2008) and will build upon its success. In total, the Department has invested £160 million since 2005 towards helping rough sleepers to move away from the streets and to enable them to move into independent or more appropriate supported accommodation.