§ Mr. Clemitsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish figures of the number of families made homeless in England and Wales during each of the months of this year and for the previous five years and the proportion of them who have been evicted from furnished tenancies.
§ Mr. KaufmanThe information compiled by the Department of Health and Social Security is of the numbers of homeless families in England and Wales who were being provided with temporary accommodation by social services authorities. Following is the information as at 31st December 1973—the latest date for which figures are at present available—and for the five preceding years:
31st December 1973 … 6,630 31st December 1972 … 6,410* 31st December 1971 … 6,297 31st December 1970 … 5,926 31st December 1969 … 5,476 31st December 1968 … 5,236 * Figures do not include information from those London boroughs which had taken responsibility for providing accommodation for the homeless. We are taking steps to improve the scope and quality of the information collected about homelessness. Lack of security for tenants of furnished accommodation has led directly to a significant amount of homelessness which our Rent Bill is intended to reduce.