HC Deb 16 February 1984 vol 54 cc326-7W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked 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 Patten

The 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.