A former housing minister is calling for the Children Bill to tighten up the duty on councils to house homeless children.
Sally Keeble, junior minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister until 2002, is set to put forward an amendment when the Bill is discussed in the Commons later this month.
She told Children Now she was meeting with the NSPCC to draw up the amendment, which may go as far as giving directors of children's services the power to overrule housing directors.
Keeble said it would help those families with children who are deemed intentionally homeless and therefore fall to the bottom of waiting lists.
"Obviously we do not want to be seen to be rewarding parents who have committed antisocial behaviour but something has to be done to ensure children do not end up homeless," she said.
- See analysis, p11.
