§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the percentage of total income spent on food, rent and heating for a family with two children living on (a) national assistance/supplementary benefit, (b) with earnings equal to average male manual earnings, and (c) with earnings equal to 288W three times average male manual earnings, in 1953, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970 and each subsequent year.
§ Mr. GoldingThe available information is given below. Separate analyses are not available for households of one man, one woman and two children living on national assistance/supplementary benefit scales. As an indication of the spending pattern for these households, information is given for households with a similar total income but from whatever source The number of households with earnings equal to three times average male manual earnings covered by the expenditure surveys is insufficient to enable the required estimates to be made. The proportion of household expenditure on all goods and services spent on food, housing, and fuel, light and power by households in the United Kingdom comprising one man, one woman and two children at the following levels of gross income is:
Percentage* Year Households with income approximately equal to the national assistance/ supplementary benefit scale Households with income approximately equal to average male manual earnings 1953 60.1 55.2 1961 56.4 49.8 1965 52.6 52.6 1970 52.6 50.6 1971 51.4 48.5 1972 51.2 46.0 1973 47.3 45.2 1974 51.2 46.4 1975 50.3 49.7 1976 54.2 52.4 The figures for 1953 have been obtained from the Household Expenditure Inquiry of 1953–54 and for subsequent years from the Family Expenditure Survey. They are subject to sampling error. The Family Expenditure Survey was not conducted in 1955 and the results for 1960 were not analysed for households of different compositions.