§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the latest figure for one-parent families (a) nationally and (b) in the Tameside metropolitan borough.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinIt is difficult to make any close estimate of the current total number of one-parent families in Great Britain. This was explained in my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Wood Green (Mr. Race) on 6 May —[Vol. 984,c. 93–4]—in which she gave the latest estimate produced by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS). That estimate was of the order of 825,000 at mid-1978. There is no later OPCS estimate.
For working purposes, the Department of Health and Social Security is tentatively assuming that the total number of one-parent families in Great Britain is at present around the 900,000 mark. Estimates of the actual number will have to await more detailed evidence.
It is equally difficult to estimate the number of one-parent families in a particular area, such as the Tameside metropolitan district. The hon. Member may, however, find it helpful to refer to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Mr. Litherland) on 19 May.—[Vol. 985, c. 56–60.]