§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will evaluate the findings of the Household Projections Survey; and if he will make a statement. [1369]
§ Mr. CabornMy Department has not commissioned any survey as such into the household projections.
The most recent (1992-based) household projections were published in March 1995 in "Projections of Households in England to 2016", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. These household projections have been subject to considerable public scrutiny, in particular by the Environment Select Committee in evidence for its report on Housing Need in 1996. Whilst generally endorsing the projections, the Committee recommended that the Department continue to examine the extent to which household formation is affected by economic and social factors. This is currently being addressed by the Department of Applied Economics, Cambridge University, as part of a wider research project for the Department on the modelling of the need for social housing. The project should be finalised by the Autumn.
Last year, the Department also commissioned Heriot-Watt University to undertake a detailed literature review on household formation, with particular emphasis on evaluating the available evidence on the extent to which economic factors affect the propensity for new households to form. This work has recently been completed and I would expect the report to be published as soon as practicable.