Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of families on waiting lists for social housing.

The number of households on social housing registers (waiting lists) in England and for each local authority in England is available each year since 1987 in live table 600 on gov.uk here.

My Department only collects data on housing registers for local authorities in England as social housing is a devolved matter.

The number of households on the housing register (waiting list) is not the same as the number of households waiting.

Local authorities periodically review their registers to remove households who no longer require housing, so the total number of households on housing registers may overstate the number of households who still require social housing at any one time. Housing register size may also be affected by other factors. For example, there is the potential for some households to be on the housing register of more than one local authority.

The frequency of reviews varies between local authorities.