§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children are currently living in families where (a) the head of the household is unemployed and (b) both parents are unemployed.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that a reply cannot be given in the form requested. However, information is available about the number of children for whom a dependency increase of unemployment benefit was being paid at the date when a count was made, or who were included in the calculation of the requirements of an unemployed person getting a supplementary allowance—that is, broadly, those children who were dependent on an unemployed adult. The latest figures, based on sample surveys carried out in November and December 1980, are of just under three-quarters of a million children in such circumstances. There is no current information available about the number of children living in families where both parents are unemployed, and an estimate could not be made except at disproportionate cost.