§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the ruling that a man can claim social security benefits for his children both in and out of wedlock, irrespective of where the children are domiciled provided that proof of upkeep of the children is supplied, still applies; how many at present are claiming these benefits; and what are the steps taken to prove that the children are being kept by the social security payments as granted.
§ Mr. OrmeThe position is still as outlined in my reply to my hon. Friend on 14th June 1977. Statistics are not kept of the number of persons claiming benefit for children living abroad, but as I explained such benefit would only be payable where a child was living in one of the EEC countries or a country with which we had concluded a relevant bilateral reciprocal agreement.—[Vol. 933, c.106–7.]