§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what information he has concerning the numbers of children under the age of 16 years currently being raised in one-parent families; and how this figure compares with that in the previous 10 years for which figures are available;
(2) what information he has concerning the percentage of all children under 16 years of age who are currently being reared in one-parent families; and how this figure compares with those in the previous 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. WhitneyInformation from the general household survey indicates that in the period 1981 to 1983 about 12 per cent. of dependent children, most of whom are under 335W age 16, were living in one-parent families; the proportion a decade earlier was about 8 percent., the figure having risen fairly steadily over the intervening decade. These results, applied to population estimates, suggest that around the year 1982 approximately 1.4 million children under the age of 16 were living in one-parent families as compared to 1.1 million a decade earlier.
§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has concerning the numbers and percentages of single families where that parent is male.
§ Mr. WhitneyIt is estimated that in the period 1981 to 1983 about 100,000 families, or just over 10 per cent of all one-parent families, were headed by a lone father.
§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what specific measures have been introduced by his Department to give support to one-parent families in which the father is the responsible parent.
§ Mr. NewtonOne-parent benefit, and the particular help provided for one parent families through the supplementary benefit and family income supplement schemes are available to both lone fathers and lone mothers.