My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s comments about the support from the voluntary sector—it is terribly important—but I do not know whether he is aware that the hospitality sector is failing quite dramatically. An awful lot of employees are on zero-hours contracts, and there are reports of them having to sleep rough in London and many other places because they cannot afford their rent. The problem is that there are no hotels, shops, restaurants or cafés open that might give them some food, there is nowhere for them to stay because they cannot afford the rent, and of course the public toilets are shut—so it is very different. Of course, these people do not always know the normal way in which local rough sleepers go about things. Could the Minister talk to local authorities and try to instruct them to open public toilets, encourage the voluntary sector and get the day centres open so that these people can at least survive until there is a better chance of getting a new job?
Public Services: Update
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Berkeley
(Labour)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 29 April 2020.
It occurred during Ministerial statement on Public Services: Update.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
803 c266 
Session
2019-21
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2024-04-26 21:27:14 +0100
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