To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many families with children aged 18 years or under were accepted as homeless in (i) York, (ii) North Yorkshire, (iii) Yorkshire and Humberside and (iv) England in each year since 1979. [31581]

The available data relate to homeless households with dependent children in priority need for which local authorities accept responsibility to secure permanent accommodation under the homelessness provisions of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 and the Housing Act 1985. The table sets out the reported data for York: 1979 and 1980 data are not available. The table also gives the data readily available for North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and Humberside and England: returns are not submitted by all authorities and it would involve disproportionate cost to provide figures, including estimates for missing data, other than for the years shown.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people aged under 18 years were homeless (a) in 1988 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available. [32831]

Data on the numbers of young people for which local authorities in England accept responsibility to secure permanent accommodation under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act have been collected since the second quarter of 1991. The numbers accepted in the 12-month periods ending March 1992 and March 1995 were as follows: