§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will estimate, in the light of the latest survey information available to him, how many couples with children, including unemployed on wage stop, and how many single persons with children, are eligible for help under the Family Income Supplements Act; and how many children are contained in these families;
(2) if he will estimate the annual rate of expenditure which will be required to 204W implement the provisions of the Family Income Supplements Act on the basis that all those who are eligible for help under the Act claim their full entitlement.
§ Sir K. JosephThe most recent estimates, based on an analysis of the 1969 and 1970 Family Expenditure Surveys, are that about 110,000 two-parent families with head in full-time work, and about 50,000 one-parent families are eligible for help under the Family Income Supplements Act; these families contain approximately 400,000 children. It was estimated that a further 25,000 families receiving supplementary benefit were receiving help under the Act during October; these families will have contained approximately 100,000 children. The estimates thus suggest that in total, approximately 185,000 families containing 500,000 children are eligible to receive help.
The annual rate of expenditure on families with head in full-time work is estimated to be in the region of £10 million on the assumption that all eligible families claimed. Since we do not know how the number of families who receive additional supplementary benefit under the Family Income Supplement Act will fluctuate over time, we cannot make any close estimate of an annual rate of expenditure on their account.
These estimates, like the previous ones, are subject to wide margins of error. Further, I am advised that it has not been possible to adjust them fully for changes since the survey dates, and that in consequence they may be on the high side.