§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her latest estimate of the total number of children in Great Britain and in each English region in one-parent families; and what proportion this represents of all children and of all families.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe latest information about one-parent families is available from the 1971 Census Household Composition Tables which were laid before Parliament on 4th April 1975.
The 1971 Census records 1,110,120 dependent children in lone-parent families in Great Britain, representing 7.9 per cent. of all dependent children; one-parent families with at least one dependent child represent 8.8 per cent. of all families with at least one dependent child.
Corresponding statistics for the regions of England are not available.
A family is defined in the census as either a married couple with or without their never-married child(ren), or lone parent together with his or her never-married child(ren) or grandparents and their never-married grandchildren where there are no parents in the household.
A dependent child is defined as a child in a family who is either under 15 years of age, or under 25 years of age and in full-time education.