HC Deb 22 June 1988 vol 135 cc566-7W
Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he intends to publish the low income families statistics for 1987.

Mr. Portillo

No. I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Squire) on 29 March at column448 and my subsequent reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Mr. Carttiss) on 19 May at columns 563–64.

Mr. Nigel Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the number of persons in low-income families in Scotland (i) on supplementary benefit, (ii) below 100 per cent. of supplementary benefit and (iii) below 140 per cent. of supplementary benefit for each of the years 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985, as reported for Great Britain in the DHSS low-income families tables.

Mr. Portillo

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) on 27 May 1988 at columns413–14.

Mr. Squire

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table, extrapolating from his Department's paper, "Households Below Average Income: A Statistical Analysis", showing the proportion of individuals and children below various income thresholds held constant in real terms and analysed by family type and economic status both before and after housing costs.

Mr. Portillo

It is not possible to project "Households Below Average Income" tables forward to later years on a reliable basis.