HC Deb 19 May 1980 vol 985 cc56-60W
Mr. Litherland

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is (a) the percentage and (b) the number of child benefit recipients whose benefit was payable to only one parent in (i) each social service area and (ii) each parliamentary constituency, separating, if possible, those where the sole recipient was a man and where the sole recipient was a woman.

Mrs. Chalker

As explained previously in my reply to the hon. Member on 11 February—[Vol. 978, c.488–489]—when a child benefit claim is received from a married couple living together, the benefit can normally be cashed by either of them.

As the figures do not include all lone parents in receipt of child benefit, and not all the persons concerned are lone parents, the tables should be read only as giving a very broad indication of one-parent families in each area.

The following table shows the estimated number and percentage of child benefit recipients, by local authority area, whose benefit was payable to only one person in December 1978 (the latest available date). The local authority is that authority in whose area the post office at which the child benefit orders were encashed is situated. Similar information

Local authority area Number of families in which payment made to only one person Number of families with payment to one person as a proportion of all families receiving child benefit in local authority area Per cent.
English Metropolitan Districts
GREATER MANCHESTER 52,000 15
Bolton 4,000 13
Bury 3,000 12
Manchester 14,000 24
Oldham 4,000 15
Rochdale 5,000 16
Salford 5,000 16
Stockport 5,000 11
Tameside 4,000 14
Trafford 4,000 12
Wigan 4,000 9
MERSEYSIDE 28,000 14
Knowsley 4,000 16
Liverpool 12,000 17
St. Helens 3,000 10
Sefton 4,000 11
Wirral 6,000 12
SOUTH YORKSHIRE 19,000 11
Barnsley 4,000 11
Doncaster 5,000 11
Rotherham 3,000 10
Sheffield 8,000 12
TYNE AND WEAR 20,000 13
Gateshead 3,000 12
Newcastle Upon Tyne 6,000 15
North Tyneside 3,000 13
South Tyneside 3,000 13
Sunderland 5,000 12
WEST MIDLANDS 47,000 13
Birmingham 23,000 16
Coventry 6,000 14
Dudley 3,000 8
Sandwell 5,000 11
Solihull 2,000 9
Walsall 4,000 10
Wolverhampton 4,000 12
WEST YORKSHIRE 37,000 13
Bradford 9,000 15
Calderdale 4,000 15
Kirklees 6,000 12
Leeds 13,000 14
Wakefield 5,000 11
English Non-Metropolitan Districts
Avon 13,000 11
Bedfordshire 7,000 10
Berkshire 9,000 10
Buckinghamshire 7,000 9
Cambridgeshire 8,000 10
Cheshire 12,000 10
Cleveland 11,000 13
Cornwall 6,000 11
Cumbria 7,000 10
Derbyshire 12,000 10
Devon 13,000 11
Dorset 8,000 11
Durham 9,000 11
East Sussex 9,000 14
Essex 19,000 10
Gloucestershire 7,000 10

by parliamentary constituency is not available nor is detailed information for Scotland. It is also not possible to divide the numbers of sole recipients into men and women or distinguish between parents or non-parents.

Local authority area Number of families in which payment made to only one person Number of families with payment to one person as a proportion of all families receiving child benefit in local authority area Per cent.
Hampshire 21,000 11
Hereford and Worcester 8,000 10
Hertfordshire 12,000 9
Humberside 14,000 12
Isle of Wight 2,000 12
Kent 21,000 11
Lancashire 23,000 13
Leicestershire 13,000 11
Lincolnshire 7,000 10
Norfolk 9,000 10
Northamptonshire 8,000 12
Northumberland 4,000 9
North Yorkshire 8,000 10
Nottinghamshire 17,000 13
Oxfordshire 7,000 10
Salop 5,000 10
Somerset 5,000 10
Staffordshire 13,000 9
Suffolk 7,000 10
Surrey 12,000 9
Warwickshire 6,000 9
West Sussex 8,000 11
Wiltshire 7,000 10
Isles of Scilly 30 11
London
All cases 132,000 17
City of London 500 29
Camden 3,000 26
Greenwich 4,000 17
Hackney 7,000 29
Hammersmith 4,000 27
Islington 5,000 24
Kensington and Chelsea 3,000 26
Lambeth 8,000 29
Lewisham 6,000 20
Southwark 7,000 25
Tower Hamlets 4,000 24
Wandsworth 7,000 24
Westminster 4,000 28
Barking 3,000 13
Barnet 4,000 11
Bexley 3,000 9
Brent 6,000 18
Bromley 4,000 10
Croydon 6,000 14
Ealing 5,000 14
Enfield 3,000 11
Haringey 5,000 20
Harrow 2,000 10
Havering 3,000 9
Hillingdon 3,000 11
Hounslow 3,000 14
Kingston Upon Thames 2,000 11
Merton 3,000 14
Newham 5,000 17
Redbridge 3,000 11
Richmond Upon Thames 2,000 14
Sutton 3,000 11
Waltham Forest 4,000 15
Wales
All cases 40,000 11
Clwyd 5,000 10
Dyfed 4,000 10
Gwent 6,000 11
Gwynedd 3,000 12
Mid Glamorgan 8,000 10
Powys 1,000 9
South Glamorgan 7,000 14
West Glamorgan 5,000 10
Scotland 84,000 12