§ Mr. Bevanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of one-parent families and the proportion of one-parent families to two-parent families in Yardley, and in the inner, central, and outer belts of Birmingham.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. My hon. Friend may, however, find it helpful to refer to my reply to the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Mr. Litherland) on 19 May in which I gave estimates of the number and percentage of child benefit recipients whose benefit was payable to only one person in December 1978, for each local authority area in England and Wales including the metropolitan district of Birmingham.—[Vol. 985, c.56–60.] These figures do not include all lone parents in receipt of child benefit: nor are all those concerned lone parents. The figures therefore give, at best, only a very broad indication of the proportions of one-parent families in each area. Similar information from child benefit records for smaller areas could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.