§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest available figures for the numbers of (a) one-parent families, (b) two-parent families and (c) other households who were accepted as homeless because of mortgage defaults.
§ Sir George YoungThere is nothing I can add to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) on 1 July.—[Vol. 26, c.388–89.] This included information up to the third quarter of 1980. The information is no longer collected.
§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate, based on the new statistical system introduced in non-metropolitan districts in the fourth quarter of 1980, for the number of one-parent families housed by all local authorities in England under the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 since its inception; and what proportion of families with children this represents.
§ Sir George YoungAbout 57,000 of the homeless households for whom local authorities in England accepted responsibility for securing accommodation between January 1978 and September 1980 were one-parent families. On average, the annual number of one-parent families accepted as homeless is equivalent to 0.3 per cent. of all families with children. Information on one-parent families is not available from the new homelessness statistical system introduced from the fourth quarter of 1980.