HC Deb 31 July 1980 vol 989 cc827-8W
Mr. Field

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report his latest estimate of the take-up of child benefit.

Mrs. Chalker

I have no reason to revise the reply which I gave to the hon. Member on 7 March 1980.—[Vol. 980, c.356.]

Mr. Field

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is now in a position to publish in the Official Report such information as is available to him about those single-parent families which do not claim child benefit increase.

Mrs. Chalker

Some information has just become available from the family finances survey in 1978–79. This indicates that take-up of child benefit increase among those able to gain from it was higher among families who were better-off financially. The survey also shows that there was not a statistically significant difference between the take-up rates for men and women.

I shall be taking this information into account, of course, in my review of the take-up of child benefit increase.