Private Hospitals (Hansard, 21 June 1982)

§ Mr. Skinner

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many private hospitals have been opened in the United Kingdom since May 1979.

TABLE 1
Working families with children
(Great Britain)
	Number	Percentage of all working families with children
Marginal tax rate (per cent.)	1977	1979	1977	1979
50 but below 75	150,000	130,000	About2½	About 2
75 but below 100	60,000	60,000	About 1	About 1
100 and over	50,000	30,000	Less than 1	About ½
TOTAL	260,000	220,000	About 4	About3½

TABLE 2
Working families and single persons without children
(Great Britain)
	Number	Percentage of all working families and single persons
Marginal tax rate (per cent.)	1977	1979	1977	1979
50 or more	100,000	50,000	About 1	About½

TABLE 3
All working families and single persons under pension age
(Great Britain)
	Number	Percentage of all working families and single persons
Marginal tax rate (per cent.)	1977	1979	1977	1979
50 or more	360,000	270,000	About 2	About1½

Notes:

These estimates are based on analyses of the income and other information recorded by respondents to the 1977 and 1979 Family Expenditure Surveys. The 1977 figures represent the position at the end of the year, whereas those for 1979 are an average over the year. The reason for the change in the method of analysis of the FES is explained in "Low Income Families—1979", copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

The overall drop from 360,000 to 270,000 shown in table 3 is evidence of a real decrease over the two years in the total numbers facing marginal tax rates of 50 per cent. or more. Because of the smallness of the samples, it is not possible to make the same comment with any confidence about the individual categories shown in tables 1 and 2.

It seems likely, however, that factors contributing to changes over the two years included the following:

(a) the number of families with children who were receiving family income supplement (FIS) fell from about 89,000 in December 1977 to an average of about 77,000 in 1979;

(b) the introduction of the reduced rate (25 per cent.) band for income tax reduced the marginal tax rates in 1979 for some families with children, who were receiving FIS and housing benefits and paying tax, from slightly above to slightly below 100 per cent; and

(c) there was probably a decline in the numbers of working families and single persons under pension age who were receiving housing benefits.

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