FOI request (FOIR-108025080)

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from Hastings Borough Council.

I would be grateful for information regarding the authority’s use of the Government’s funding provided under the Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative and additional funds provided under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Specifically, I would like a month by month breakdown of spending from each fund for the financial year 2018/19 so far.

I would also be grateful if you could inform me which method Hasting Borough Council used to count or estimate the number of rough sleepers when reporting to the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government in Autumn 2018. Specifically, I would like to be advised whether the council used a street count, and if so over how many days, or whether an estimate was calculated.

Finally, I would like to know whether this method was changed from the previous reporting period in 2017 and if so what the council’s reasoning for this change was.