To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of when the population of London will reach 8.6 million people, its former peak, and what assessment they have made of the implications of such a size for the rest of the United Kingdom.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for the Office for National Statistics, to Lord Patten, dated September 2012

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics I have been asked to reply to your question to Her Majesty's Government asking what estimate they have made of when the population of London will reach 8.6 million people. its former peak, and what assessment they have made of the implications of such a size for the rest of the United Kingdom. [HL2008]

Estimates of future population are available as population projections. The most recent sub-national population projections are based on mid-year population estimates for 2010 and they project the population of London to reach 8.6 million by mid-2016.

Sub-national population projections are not forecasts and do not attempt to predict the impact of future government policies, changing economic circumstances or the capacity of an area to accommodate a change in population. They provide an indication of the future size and age structure of the population if recent demographic trends continued.

The Office for National Statistics is an independent non-ministerial department and does not comment on any assessments of the implications of projected population size.