§ Mr. Ernie Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, at the latest available date, what was the average length of time for which (a) one-parent families and (b) two parent families where the head of household was (i) unemployed, (ii) sick or disabled (iii) in receipt of supplementary benefit or for some other reason dependent on supplementary benefit.
§ Mrs. ChalkerStatistics of this are not kept but at November 1977 the average time one-parent families had been on benefit was 37 months and two-parent families 15 months. Separate figures by unemployment, sickness, or other category which distinguished married couples according to whether or not they have children are not available.