§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total annual expenditure on social security benefits paid to one-parent families (a) in 1974 and (b) in 1979, and the amount of the difference between (a) and (b) which is attributable to (i) inflation, (ii) the increase in the number of one-parent families, (iii) new benefits for one-parent families, (iv) enhancement above the inflation rate of existing benefits, and (v) any other factor; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe total annual expenditure on social security benefits paid to one-parent families at the rates of benefit obtaining in January 1974 is estimated to have been about £275 million and in April 1979 something over £950 million. Of the current annual expenditure, between £30 million and £35 million may be attributable to the one-parent family premium, which is presumably what the hon. Member has in mind in referring to new benefits for one-parent families.
In my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, North-West (Mr. Colvin) on 9 July [Vol. 970, c. 50], I referred to the problems of estimating numbers of one-parent families. Because of these and other difficulties, it is not possible to break down the increase in the total annual expenditure between 1974 and 1979 with any degree of precision in the way the hon. Member requests. As a very broad indication of possibilities, however, it may be said that up to £100 million may be due to higher 160W numbers of one-parent families, more than £300 million to inflation, something less than £200 million to real improvement of benefits and some £50 million mainly to different treatment of the housing costs of supplementary benefit claimants.
More than a third of a million lone parents who are paying income tax will benefit from the tax reductions proposed in my right hon. and learned Friend's statement on the Budget on 12 June [Vol. 968, c. 258–63]. These include raising the personal tax allowances for lone parents by £280 to £1,815 a year from the beginning of the current tax year. These lone parents will also benefit from the reductions proposed in the rates of tax. I also refer the hon. Member to the statement on the increases in social security benefits made by my right hon. Friend on 13 June [Vol. 968, c. 437–39]. More than half a million one-parent families receiving social security benefits will benefit from the increases proposed in that statement. These include raising the one-parent family premium to £2.50 a week from mid-November.