§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements his Department has for the monitoring of local authority housing waiting lists; and on the basis of the best available information, what is his estimate of the number of persons currently in housing need.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergWaiting lists are not an accurate guide to housing need; for example, the national dwelling and housing survey in December 1977 indicated that, of the 952,000 households (or people wishing to set up as a household) who said their names were on waiting lists, only a little over one-fifth were in conventionally recognised categories of need.
Moreover, the composition of the housing waiting list is a matter for individual local authorities, and arrangements for review and criteria for including names vary widely. For these reasons, waiting lists are not regularly monitored by the Department.
As to an estimate of housing need, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend to the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Mr. Douglas-Mann) on 17 June.—[Vol. 986, c. 499–500.]