Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. The constituency of Chorley covers the whole of Chorley borough council.
Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, and the types of temporary accommodation. The figures include both those households who have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and those for which inquiries are pending.
Data are published in our quarterly statistical release on statutory homelessness, which includes a supplementary table showing the breakdown of key data, including temporary accommodation and type, by each local authority. These are published on our website each quarter (the latest—July to September 2006—can be found at the following address:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/60/Supplementary tables_id1505060.xls, and the tables have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Data provided include the total number in temporary accommodation for each year, broken down between bed and breakfast, hostel, local authority/registered social landlord stock, private sector leased and other types of housing.
A summary table showing the total number of households in temporary accommodation, from 1997-98 to 2005-06, for each local authority (including Chorley) was placed in the Library in October 2006, in response to PQ 8631 (Chris Ruane)—Table B.
In January 2005 the Government set a target of halving the number of households in all forms of temporary accommodation used by local authorities to discharge their main duty under the homelessness legislation.