§ Mr. Cantasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish a study outlining the social and economic implications of a falling, rising and stable population.
§ Mr. William PriceI have been asked to reply.
The Report of the Population Panel, Cmnd. 5258, published in March 1973, considered the social and economic implications of possible changes in the population of Britain, using a range of assumptions about future fertility rates. More recently, a report by the Central Policy Review Staff entitled "Population and the Social Services" was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in April 1977. This report examined the implications for social expenditure of changes in population size and structure in Britain on various assumptions over the next 15 to 20 years. There is a continuing programme of work in the field of population and its implications, and results from this will be published from time to time.