HC Deb 05 April 1977 vol 929 cc502-3W
2. Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish in the Official Report the number of people in regular receipt of family incomes supplement and his Department's estimate of the number of people entitled to receive such supplement; on what basis his Department's calculation is

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
Year Average number of families receiving FIS during the year (thousands) Cost of FIS payments Estimated number of families eligible for FIS (including those receiving FIS) (thousands) Estimated value of benefit unclaimed Estimated level of take-up
Financial year £m. £m.
1971 … 61 1971–72 4 Not available Not available Not available
1972 … 86 1972–73 10 About 170 Not available About a half
1973 … 93 1973–74 13 About 150 Not available About two-thirds
1974 … 78 1974–75 12 About 100 3 About three-quarters
1975 … 60 1975–76 12 About 80 1 About three-quarters

Notes:Columns (b) and (c): the figures for 1971 are part year only since the FIS scheme did not start until August 1971.

Columns (d), (e) and (f): (i) These estimates are derived from a DHSS analysis of the incomes and other information recorded by respondents in the Family Expenditure Survey (FES). They are subject to considerable uncertainty because of small sample numbers and deficiencies in the information available for determining eligibility for FIS, particularly on incomes and number of hours worked in the case of families with the head in self-employment. A fuller description of the basis of estimating entitlement to FIS is contained in an article in Statistical News No. 24 (February 1974), published by HMSO.

(ii) Estimates for 1971 based on similar analyses as for other years are not available due to the difficulty of relating data from the FES, which covers the whole year, to the period from August (when the scheme started) to December 1971.

(iii) Estimates of the value of benefit unclaimed for each of the years 1971–1973 have not been calculated previously and to do so now would involve disproportionate expense.

3. Figures for 1976 are not available.