Written question asked by Baroness King of Bow (Labour) on Thursday, 6 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 November 2003. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 November 2003 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary's statement of 29th October 2003 412 c126WH, on what basis his Department estimates that 25,000 households are statutorily overcrowded; pursuant to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary's statement of 29th October, Official Report, column 126WH, if he will provide a regional breakdown of households which are statutorily overcrowded.

Answer: Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary's statement of 29 October 2003, Official Report, column 126WH, (1) on what basis his Department estimates that 25,000 households are statutorily overcrowded; [137905] (2) if he will provide a regional breakdown of households which are statutorily overcrowded. [137906] Yvette Cooper: The estimate was derived using data from the Survey of English Housing for the three years 1999-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, supplemented with some data from the English House Condition Survey. It was necessary to use data from three years of the Survey of English Housing because the number of households statutorily overcrowded is so small, just over 0.1 per cent., that it would not have been possible to derive an estimate using data for a single year. Even combining years the estimate remains very tentative, and for this reason it is not possible to provide a regional breakdown.

Secondary information