§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number and percentage of single-parent families by district council ward recorded in the 1981 census in the Wolverhampton area.
§ Mr. John PattenThe results from a 10 per cent. sample of census forms published in the 1981 census county report for the west midlands—part 2, table 48—show that there were approximately 5,020 one-parent families with at least one dependent child, and 3,840 one-parent families with non-dependent children only, in Wolverhampton metropolitan district at the time of the census. Of this total 8,860 one-parent families in Wolverhampton, the census shows the number by ward to be as follows:
Number Bilston East 500 Bilston North 650 Blackenhall 360 Bushbury 500 Eastfield 840 Ettingshall 260 Graisley 290 Low Hill 790 Merry Hill 550 Oxley 430 Park 410 Parkfield 390 Penn 280 St. Peter's 440 Spring Vale 380 Tettenhall Regis 320 Tettenhall Wightwick 380 Wednesfield Heath 280 Wednesfield North 440 Wednesfield South 370 Figures at ward level are not available subdivided by whether the lone parent had at least one dependent child or only non-dependent children.
In Wolverhampton as a whole 16 per cent. of all households comprised of one family with dependent children were headed by lone parents. Similar information is not routinely available at ward level.
The figures use the census definition of "family": they do not therefore include unmarried mothers who are living with their own parents. Nor do they include the small number of lone parents in households which comprise two or more families.