HC Deb 24 February 1978 vol 944 cc842-5W
Mr. Ralph Howell

asked the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his Written Answer to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, Official Report, 2nd February 1978, columns 287–8, if he will give the same information relating to single people, married couples and married couples with one and three or more children.

Mr. Golding

The available information is given below. Separate analyses are not available for households living on national assistance/supplementary benefit scales. As an indication of the spending pattern of those households information is given for households with a similar total income but from whatever source.

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 adult; one man and one woman; one man, one woman and one child; one man, one woman and three or more children at the following levels of gross income is:

Percentages
Year Household with income approximately equal to national assistance/supplementary benefit scale Household with income approximately equal to average male manual earnings
1953 69 40
1961 69 39
1965 66 49
1970 68 41
1971 68 38
1972 71 37
1973 66 38
1974 67 45
1975 64 42
1976 66 42
ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN
Percentages
Year Household with income approximately equal to national assistance/supplementary benefit scale Household with income approximately equal to average male manual earnings
1953 62 50
1961 66 50
1965 64 47
1970 61 52
1971 60 44
1972 62 46
1973 61 44
1974 61 47
1975 60 49
1976 60 48
ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN AND ONE CHILD
Percentages
Year Household with income approximately equal to national assistance/supplementary benefit scale Household with income approximately equal to average male manual earnings
1953 57 51
1961 51 50
1965 55 49
1970 49 46
1971 57 47
1972 54 45
1973 47 43
1974 52 47
1975 50 47
1976 53 48
ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN AND THREE OR MORE CHILDREN
Percentages
Year Household with income approximately equal to national assistance/supplementary benefit scale Household with income approximately equal to average male manual earnings
1953* 66 57
1961 60 54
1965 55 55
1970 55 52
1971 60 51
1972* 52 56
1973* 50 52
1974* 52 49
1975* 54 54
1976* 54 52
* For these years, information is available for households comprising one man, one woman and three children only.

The figures for 1953 have been obtained from the Household Expenditure Enquiry of 1953–54 and for subsequence years from the family Expenditure survey. They are subject to sampling error.

Mr. Ralph Howell

asked the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his Written Answer to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, Official Report, 2nd February 1978, columns 287–8, if he will give the same information for single and married retirement pensioners, assuming incomes equal to standard retirement pension plus supplementary pension.

Mr. Golding

The available information is given below. It covers pensioner households with incomes of at least three-quarters derived from national insurance retirement and similar pensions, including benefits paid in supplement to, or instead of, such pensions.

The proportion of household expenditure on all goods and services spent on food, housing and fuel, light and power by pensioner households in the United Kingdom comprising one person and two persons is:—

Year One-person pensioner households percentage expenditure Two-person households percentage expenditure
1953 72 64
1971 70 63
1972 72 62
1973 70 63
1974 69 60
1975 70 61
1976 69 63

The figures for 1953 have been obtained from the Household Expenditure Enquiry of 1953–54 and for subsequent years from the Family Expenditure Survey. They are subject to sampling error. The expenditure of one-person and two-person pensioner households was not analysed separately for 1961, 1965 and 1970.