§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing the levels of entitlement for family income supplement and free school meals for a family with two children, as a percentage for average male manual earnings, in each year since 1970.
§ Mr. DeakinsIn the following tables the month chosen for comparison in each year is that during which the levels of entitlement were uprated:
TABLE 1 Family income supplement: prescribed amount for a 2 child family as a percentage of the estimated average weekly earnings of adult male manual workers. Year Percentage *August 1971 65 April 1972 67 April 1973 62 October 1973 59 July 1974 61 July 1975 61 July 1976 66 * The family income supplement scheme began in August 1971. All these estimates are based on the average gross weekly earnings of full-time adult male manual workers in manufacturing industries and some of the principal non-manufacturing industries, as published by the Department of Employment.
TABLE 2 Free school meals: level of entitlement for a 2 child family as a percentage of the estimated average weekly earnings of adult male manual workers. Year Percentage April 1971 48 September 1971 51 September 1972 50 September 1973 47 August 1974 47 April 1975 47 November 1975 48 November 1976 49