§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the break-down of the numbers of those of Her Majesty's Forces personnel claiming family income supplement by size of family in the last four years and 141W the proportion of all family income supplement beneficiaries that they represent for the latest four years.
§ Mr. OrmeI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. Members of Her Majesty's forces are coded for family income supplement purposes in an occupational group classification—based on the industrial classification used for censuses—which contains 16 other professions and trades. The numbers of beneficiaries—families headed by men—included in this group at the end of 1975, 1976 and 1977 were 90, 90 and 190 respectively or, as a percentage of the total numbers of families receiving the supplement, 0.2 per cent., 0.1 per cent. and 0.2 per cent. respectively. Comparable figures for earlier years are not available. It is not possible to identify Service families within this small category, but clearly the number can only be very small.