§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents are currently claiming income support; and how many lone parents were claiming income support in September 1998. [75150]
§ Angela EagleThe latest information available is that there were 955,000 lone parents claiming Income Support as at August 1998.
Notes:
1. The figure is rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample of Income Support claimants.
3. Lone parents are defined as single claimants with dependants who are not in receipt of a disability or pensioner premium.
Source:
Income Support Statistics Quarterly Inquiry: August 1998.
§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents there are in each decile of income distribution. [75149]
925W
§ Angela EagleThe information is in the table.
The table shows the numbers of lone parents by decile or quintile of the income distribution. Their position in the income distribution is determined by the equivalised income of the household.
Number of lone parents by equivalised income decile or quintile, excluding the self-employed—1996–97 Thousand Before housing costs After housing costs Income deciles Bottom decile 220 280 Second decile 400 550 Third decile 360 270 Fourth decile 240 200 Income quintiles Third quintile 260 200 Fourth quintile 120 110 Top quintile 60 50 Total 1,660 1,660 Notes:
1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data set based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS does not include Northern Ireland. 1996–97 is the latest year for which information is available.
2. 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. In HBAI, an individual's income is estimated by assuming each person in a household shares a common income level determined by the household's size and composition and its total disposable income. The adjustment to reflect the composition of the household is called 'equivalisation'. The figures may be sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale used. The figures are given for income both before and after housing costs in line with usual HBAI practice.
3. Results are presented excluding the self-employed because the income measures for the self-employed are inherently uncertain. Including the self-employed makes very little difference to these estimates.
4. 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 variable response rates and to sampling error. Due to the small sample sizes, the data for the top six deciles have been presented in quintiles.