§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of homeless persons in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. StanleyInformation is available only in respect of the number of homeless households in England for whom local authorities accept a responsibility to secure accommodation under the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. The published statistics are in the Library. The number in 1981, the latest period for which information is available, was 70,000 households. Similar published information is available in respect of Scotland and Wales.