Immediate Release

Nick Clegg MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, will be visiting staff and service users at a regional housing support agency on Friday 26 January 2007 to discuss their concerns with the future of the Supporting People programme.

Mr Clegg will hear about the services that Action Housing & Support provide to individuals with housing support needs before listening to anxieties about the uncertain future of the SP funding stream.

Action Housing operates across Yorkshire and the Midlands, providing housing related support services to offenders, people with substance misuse problems, mental health needs, and various other client groups.

Like many other small to medium sized organisations in the sector, Action is increasingly worried that increasingly tight budgets and the trend towards more competitive and more frequent tendering for projects is harming the smaller players and their ability to cater for the needs of local communities.

The organisation is concerned that the Supporting People programme is rapidly becoming dominated by large national agencies with little or no connections to the neighbourhoods they are working with. As more providers are forced under, the sector faces losing much of the expertise and innovation that the smaller providers can bring.

Russell Ward, Action Housing’s Chief Executive, said: “It’s crucial that we recognise the unique ability of small and medium sized organisations to provide services that are truly responsive to each community’s local needs. In order to deliver the services that many individuals depend upon we need a healthy mix of providers with a broad range of expertise.”

Nick Clegg said: “As Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary for my party I appreciate the need for organisations like Action Housing to continue providing these vital services. As an MP for Sheffield I can see the tremendous impact that they are making in our neighbourhoods. If we want to continue improving people’s lives then we need to make sure these organisations get the support they need and reliable funding is central to that.”

Notes to Editors

Nick Clegg MP will be visiting Action Housing & Support at 12:30pm on Friday 26 January 2007 at:

22 Wilkinson Street

Sheffield

S10 2GB

For further information please contact:

Matt Barker in the Public Relations office on 01709 821251, 07985813045, or Matt.Barker@ActionHousinguk.org