§ 61. Mr. Tom Benyonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the help given to one-parent families.
§ Mr. NewtonI am satisfied that we have made useful progress in helping this group by achieving a real increase in the level of one-parent benefit, by raising take-up of this benefit from about 60 per cent. to about 70 per cent., and by introducing an improved earnings disregard for lone parents who receive supplementary benefit. One-parent families have also benefited from the real improvements we have made in the prescribed amounts for family income supplement and from the reduction—from two years to one—in the qualifying period for the long-term scale rate of supplementary benefit.