§ Mrs. Haymanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the extension of family income supplement to lone parents who work between 24 and 30 hours a week.
§ Mr. OrmeThe present rules require a minimum of 30 hours work a week before a lone parent or a couple with children may be eligible for family income supplement—FIS. From 3 April onwards lone parents who work between 24 and 30 hours a week may also be eligible for FIS. A new combined explanatory leaflet and FIS claim form, which gives full details of the new rule, will be available from post offices and local offices of my Department. Advisory bodies and major groups concerned with lone parents, such as the National Council for One-Parent Families, Gingerbread, the Child Poverty Action Group and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, have been asked to help publicise the change. They have been offered supplies of the new FIS claim form and FIS poster. I hope that this and other initiatives will encourage the 10,000 or so lone parents who are expected to be newly entitled to FIS to make their claims as soon as possible.