§ Mr. George Rodgersasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of wives and dependent children who are maintained by her Department as a consequence of desertion by husbands; and what is the cost to the State of this provision.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownI regret that this information is not available as the reasons for payment of supplementary benefit are not analysed. But my hon. Friend may wish to know that, on the basis of information obtained annually of the amount of supplementary benefit paid to various categories of claimants, it is estimated that in 1973 about £89½ million was paid to about 163,000 separated332W wives, of whom some 104,000 had a total of about 220,000 dependent children. This sum was paid after taking into account maintenance payments of about £10 million received by the women themselves.
During the financial year 1972–73 the Department recovered about £12½ million from persons liable to maintain. It is not known how much of this sum was in respect of separated wives and their children. The figures for the financial year 1973–74 are not yet available.