§ Mr. Fieldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the numbers of families with children living under the tax threshold for each of the past 20 years.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to his reply, 28 March 1983, c. 66]: I regret that information is not available on which to base estimates for each of the past 20 years A rough estimate, however, is possible for the year of the 1971 census, when about one and a half million families with dependent children did not pay income tax.