§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide updated figures on (a) the percentage and (b) the number of child benefit recipients in local authority areas whose benefit was payable to only one parent; and if he is satisfied that these figures provide an adequate basis for calculating the numbers of one-parent families in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. NewtonThe latest figures available relate to April 1981 and are available in the Library. These figures could be updated only at disproportionate cost, and the result would give no more than a broad estimate of the number and spread of one-parent families because the original calculation was based upon the number of child benefit order books issued in the name of one parent. A better estimate of the number of one-parent families will be available when an analysis of the 1981 census data has been completed. This analysis should be available shortly.