To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many former UK armed forces service personnel in (a) Leeds, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England are estimated to be homeless. (151446)

[holding answer 23 July 2007]: The Department does not have a comprehensive estimate of the number of former armed forces service personnel that are homeless, but it does collect information on statutory homelessness from local authorities (which cover some ex-HM forces personnel).

Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level, in respect of households rather than people.

Information reported includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation.

Based on information supplied by local authorities for 2006-07, around 50 households accepted as owed the main homelessness duty in England were in priority need primarily as a result of being vulnerable through having served in HM forces. Some authorities also report secondary priority need categories (when an household falls in to more than one priority need group), and there were an additional 40 households reported here. In total, this represents 0.1 per cent. of all acceptances in the year.

In the same year, around 200 households accepted as owed the main homelessness duty cited the reason for loss of their last settled home as having left HM forces, representing 0.3 per cent. of acceptances.

A table has been placed in the Library which shows the number of household acceptances who have (i) the primary and (ii) the secondary priority need of being vulnerable through having served in HM forces, and (iii) cited the reason for loss of last settled home as having left HM forces. The data are provided for all local authorities, including Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

It is important to note that many of those households with the HM forces priority need may also have the reason for loss of having left HM forces accommodation, and so there is likely to be some overlap between the two sets of figures.