To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) individuals and (b) households were on social housing waiting lists in England in (i) April 1997 and (ii) the latest period for which figures are available. (319228)

Information is available on numbers of households rather than people or families. The number of households registered on social housing waiting lists in each local authority, each region, and in England, as at 1 April each year from 1997 to 2009, is published on the Communities and Local Government website in Table 600. The link for this table is given as follows:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/table600.xls