To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the proportion of total housing demand which would result from the Office for National Statistics’ assumption of long-term net migration of 190,000 each year for the number of years for which forecasts are available; and what number of housing units this proportion would represent. (156472)

An updated estimate of the amount of household growth attributable to net migration will be part of the next major release, due in 2008, of the Department’s household projections. The household projection updates follow the rolling programme of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) population projections. The ONS is due to publish, on 23 October, the 2006-based national projections that include the assumption of long-term annual net migration into the UK of 190,000. In 2008, the ONS will publish sub-national population projections on this 2006 the base which will feed into the next major update of the household projections. These new household projections will also take account of the recent trends in household formation and of the Office for National Statistics’ latest projections of marital status and cohabitation.