HC Deb 27 May 1968 vol 765 c1199
3. Mr. Barnes

asked the Minister of Social Security if she will set up a continuing research programme in order to maintain up-to-date information on family circumstances.

The Minister of Social Security (Mrs. Judith Hart)

I am at present considering with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, how far it may be possible to use the continuous family expenditure survey for this purpose.

Mr. Barnes

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that it would be relatively cheap to keep the information obtained about the circumstances of families up to date by doing a limited amount of research each year? If that is not done, there will be a serious lack of information, and when a major survey has to be done again, it will cost that much more.

Mrs. Hart

I considered that possibility, but I think that it will be best to try to get the basic continuous data that we need from the family expenditure survey, the sample for which has been very much enlarged since last year. A good deal of data is available which we are proposing to analyse, and then I shall consider how far, perhaps with the addition of one or two questions, we might be able to keep up to date on the kind of information which the family circumstances survey gave.