§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the Government have any statistical evidence as to the average weekly cost of keeping a child or young person aged under 5, between 5 and 11, between 11 and 16, and between 16 and 18 years, respectively, in a normal family in the United Kingdom; and if she will publish this information in the Official Report.
§ Mr. Luceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what evidence she has as to the cost to parents of looking after children of varying ages from birth to the age of responsibility; and if she will summarise the findings and make the evidence available;
(2) what evidence has been made available to her, for the purpose of assessing child family benefits, about the costs to parents of bringing up first, second and subsequent children, respectively.
§ Mr. O'MalleyFamily expenditure patterns are influenced by factors such as household income and numbers of children as well as the ages of the children. Some preliminary results of a study in this field are contained in a paper "Equivalence Scales for Children" which was presented to the Conference on the Economics of Consumer Behaviour sponsored by the Social Science Research Council at the University of Sussex in April 1975. A copy of this paper is in the Library.