§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Paymaster General (1) how many unmarried mothers are classified as unemployed; how many unmarried mothers are registered at job centres; and what these figures represent as a percentage of the total of unmarried mothers;
(2) how many unmarried mothers are in receipt of unemployment benefit; how many are in receipt of supplementary benefit; and what these figures represent as a percentage of the total number of unmarried mothers.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkAccording to the labour force survey, in Great Britain in the spring of 1984, there were about 190,000 women who were single, widowed, divorced or separated with dependent children aged under 16 who said they were claiming benefits and therefore included in the unemployment count. This represents about 11.5 per cent. of all such women. Corresponding figures are not available for those registered at jobcentres. About 65,000 of these women— about 4 per cent.—were claiming unemployment benefit while some 120,000—about 7 per cent.—were claiming supplementary benefit only.