§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Prime Minister if he will make arrangements for the Department of the Environment to arrange with the Benefits Agency the means of obtaining up-to-date information on the numbers of children in lone-parent households by local authority area for the purpose of assessing standard spending.
§ The Prime MinisterThe standard spending assessments include indicators based on the most up-to-date information which is reliable at a local authority level on numbers of children and numbers of persons living in lone parent households. It is not possible to obtain more recent information by using child benefit records because the necessary post codes are not available for some 2 million out of 6.7 million, payees. An analysis of child benefit payments will not, in any case, indentify all lone parent households since some parents in receipt of income support do not claim one parent benefit as there is no financial incentive to do so.