§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many households living in accommodation matching the definition of the single room rent assessment figure for housing benefit purposes were identified in the census of 1991; [9418]
(2) how many single people (a) aged under 25 years (b) aged 25 to 59 years and (c) aged 60 and over were identified as living in accommodation matching the definition of the single room rent assessment figure for housing benefit purposes in the census of 1991. [9416]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe information available from the census is for households occupying a bedsitting room. This is a wider category than that defined as a single room by the Department of the Environment and used by the Department of Social Security for housing benefit purposes, as it includes households who shared only one of the facilities of a toilet, kitchen or bathroom.
The relevant age breakdown in the census related to heads of households, and the "single, widowed, and divorced" category of heads of households and so included cohabiting couples and lone parents as well as people living by themselves, but excluded separated people living by themselves who were counted under the group "married heads of households".
There were 136,498 households identified as living in bedsits in Great Britain in the 1991 census, and of these 117,120 were people living by themselves.
The information by age available from the census was for the 121,355 single, widowed and divorced heads of household living in bedsits, as follows:
Age Number 16–29 63,582 30-pensionable age 46,192 Pensionable age and over 11,581 Source:
1991 Census of population.
More up-to-date information on those living in rented accommodation in England is available from the annual survey of English housing.