§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many heads of households(a) below and (b) above retirement age had a mortgage on the latest date for which figures are available. [164205]
§ Keith HillUsing data from the Survey of English Housing (SEH) for the first three-quarters of the 2003–04, the estimated number of household reference persons1 (HRPs) in England that have a mortgage and are (a) below retirement age was 8,196,000 (55 per cent. of HRPs in this age group), (b) above retirement age was 307,000 (5 per cent. of HRPs in this age group).
1 The figures provided relate to household reference persons rather than to head of households as in the question because from April 2001 the SEH in common with other Government surveys replaced the traditional concept of the "head of the household" by "household reference person". This is the householder with the highest income. The definition of the household reference person, unlike the old head of household definition, no longer gives automatic priority to male partners.