Written question asked by Baroness May of Maidenhead (Conservative) on Friday, 24 May 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 June 2002. It was answered by Nick Raynsford (Labour) on Monday, 10 June 2002 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent estimate he has made of the number of households affected by poor sound insulation. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mrs. May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent estimate he has made of the number of households affected by poor sound insulation. [60660] Mr. Raynsford: The best estimate my Department has of the number of people affected by poor sound insulation comes from the regulatory impact assessment prepared for the revision of Part E of the Building Regulations--which deals with sound insulation between new dwellings. This examined data collected by the 1996 English house condition survey and concluded that 670,000 households were bothered by noise from neighbours which could be attributed to poor design of the building or a combination of poor design and behaviour of the neighbours.

Secondary information