§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many single persons, over the age of 16 years, are currently living within family units; how these persons are considered in producing projections for future housing needs; and what assessment he has made of the future requirement for single persons' accommodation.
§ Sir George Young[holding answer 22 November 1990]: The estimated number of single persons aged 16 or over 116W living within family units in England in 1988 is 4.9 million, of which 1.3 million were aged 16 or 17. These figures are derived from the 1988 labour force survey housing trailer.
In estimating the future number of households my Department makes projections of the proportions of persons who will be household heads, separately by age, sex and marital status (including single). The method is described in the Department's publication "1985 based estimate of numbers of households", a copy of which is in the Library.
The Government do not make estimates of housing requirements for particular types of household.