§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the proportion of couples referred to in is reply to the hon. Member for Kensington, 26 November, Official Report, columns 542–4, and in other publications by his Department, as married couples, who are in fact single men and women living in shared accommodation.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe only information available on the proportion of couples who describe themselves as married but are not actually married to each other comes from the general household survey and relates only to couples in which the woman is under 50 years of age. For the years 1981–83 combined the proportions are as follows:
Couples according to number of dependent children* Percentage of couples with women under age 50 who are not legally married to each other† (a) (b) 0 4.7 1 3.3 2 1.6 3 or more 2.7 Notes: * Dependent children are those aged under 16, or 16 to 18 and in full-time education. † Information about whether a couple are legally married is collected only from women. The figures cover divorced and widowed as well as single women.