Amelia Gentleman (Rough sleeping returns to streets in full force,10 March) paints a grim picture of the situation in London. But it is not current. Back in the early 1970s, the Conservative social services secretary Sir Keith Joseph was so concerned about rough sleeping in London that on a cold, or dark night,incognito and without any departmental officials, he did a full evening shift accompanying St Mungo’s workers as they made their way round the West End. This was a truly worthy and scarce act by a minister of the crown. Can any of nowadays’s ministerial breed be envisaged doing likewise? I rather think not.
Robin Wendt
(Keith Joseph’s principal private secretary, and 1970-72),Chester• In 1998 the social exclusion unit set up by Tony Blair commissioned a report called Coming in from the Cold. This led to the establishment in 1998 of the rough sleepers unit headed by Louise Casey, which I joined in 2000 as a homelessness specialist adviser.
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Source: theguardian.com