§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) single pensioners, (b) pensioner couples, (c) adults and (d) lone parents in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK as a whole have an income less than half of average income. [54387]
§ Mr. DenhamThe information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.
Including the self-employed, the numbers of people living in households with incomes below half the Great Britain average are:
Thousand Before housing costs After housing costs Great Britain Scotland Great Britain Scotland Single pensioners 960 80 1,280 110 Pensioner couples 1,160 (100) 1,320 (110) Adults 6,770 610 9,240 750 Lone parents 1,280 (190) 2,490 250 Source:
Households Below Average Income (HBAI)
Excluding the self-employed, the numbers of people living in households with incomes below half the Great Britain average, are:
Thousand Before housing costs After housing costs Single pensioners 880 (80) 1,050 (80) Pensioner couples 1,020 (100) 1,170 (100) Adults 5,390 510 7,600 630 Lone parents 1,050 (160) 2,310 240 Notes:
1. The data come from the Department's Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series, based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and covering Great Britain.
2. Figures are for 1995–96, the latest year for which data are available.
3. Figures in brackets relate to fewer than 100 families in the sample. Numbers are given to the nearest 10,000 but because they come from a sample survey they are not accurate to this degree. All results are subject to sampling error.
480W
§ Mr. DenhamThe Department of Social Security and its executive Agencies are individually responsible for preparation of a Welsh Language Scheme when requested by the Welsh Language Board.
The present position is summarised in the table.
4. The income measure used is weekly net (disposable) equivalised income. The definition of income used follows that in the published HBAI series for FRS based results. The figures are given both before and after housing costs in line with usual HBAI practice. The figures may be sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale used.
5. The income measures for the self-employed are inherently uncertain. For this reason, results are presented both including and excluding the self-employed.
6. For all figures, half the Great Britain national average income has been used as a benchmark. Separate averages were used for the including and excluding self-employed measures.
7. A single pensioner is defined as a single adult of state pension age or over and a pensioner couple is defined as a couple, where the man is of state pension age or over.
8. The tables show the numbers of people in each cell. This means that, for example, 1,160,000 people living in pensioner couples, or 580,000 pensioner couples, in Great Britain have incomes less than half the national average before housing costs.
Source:
Households Below Average Income (HBAI).