§ Miss Quennellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether it is now possible to forecast a fall in the total population of the United Kingdom in the next 10 years significantly different from earlier estimates of the Registrar General.
§ Sir K. JosephI am advised by the Registrar General and the Government Actuary that there is no reasonable basis for projecting a fall in the population of the United Kingdom over the next 10 years; on the contrary, substantial increase in population remains the only reasonable basis for future planning.
While the currently projected increase of 2.7 million, from 55.6 million in 1969 to 58.3 million 10 years later, is clearly subject to a margin of uncertainty, there has been no basis in developments over the past year for substantial revision of these figures.