§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will set out the estimated increases in housing 344W benefit cost and case load in Scotland resulting from the new local government finance system in the form set out in figure J9 on page 127 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(2) what was, at the latest convenient date, the Scottish average net household income as a percentage of the average figure for Great Britain;
(3) if he will set out the relationship of gross and net rates to net household income in Scotland in 1984–85 prices, in similar form to figure F1 on page 105 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(4) if he will set out the relationship between rateable value and income in Scotland, in 1984–85 prices, in similar form to figure F2 on page 105 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(5) if he will set out the percentage of households in each income range with rateable values in specified ranges in Scotland, in 1984–85 prices, in similar form to figure F3 on page 106 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(6) if he will set out the relationship of gross and net community charge to net household income in Scotland, in 1984–85 prices, in similar form to figure F4 on page 106 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(7) if he will set out the relationship of rates and community charge, both gross and net, to net household income in each band of equivalent net income in Scotland, in 1984–85 prices, in similar form to figure F5 on page 106 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(8) if he will set out the pattern of households in Scotland gaining and losing with full replacement of domestic rates by the community charge by type of household in similar form to figure J7 on page 125 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government", Cmnd. 9714;
(9) if he will set out the distribution of tax units in Scotland gaining and losing with full replacement of domestic rates by the community charge by type of tax unit in similar form to figure J.8 on page 126 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government" Cmnd. 9714.
§ Mr. RifkindAccording to the family expenditure survey, the average weekly household income (net of income tax and national insurance contributions) in Scotland in 1984 was 93 per cent. of the average for Great Britain.
The size of the Scottish sample for the survey, which is carried out each year, is about 600 households. Such a sample provides a reasonable measure of the average income of all households in Scotland. Even when data are analysed over a four-year period as explained in paragraph F3 of annex F of the Green Paper, the sample does not provide a statistically adequate source for tables relating to Scotland only and containing all the detail in figures Fl, F2, F3, F4, F5, J7, J8 and J9 in the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government" (Cmnd. 9714). Apart from the income difference referred to above, comparisons between Scotland and England are complicated by the different range of services paid for by rates and by the different dates of valuation, but I have concluded that the Great Britain figures should be used as the best guide to the 345W patterns in Scotland. I am confident that the Government's conclusion that a community charge should replace domestic rates is amply justified.
§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many households there are in Scotland with only one adult over the age of 18 years; how many of these are single parent families with children; and how many are single people over pensionable age.
§ Mr. RifkindReadily available information, which comes from the 1981 census of population, is not precisely in the form requested.
On 5 April 1981 there were 433,228 households in Scotland containing one person over 16 years of age, with or without others under 16. Of these households, 263,568 consisted of one person of pensionable age (with no children), and 40,455 contained one person over 16 and some under 16. The proportion of these 40,455 households in which the person over 16 was the parent of at least one of those under 16 is estimated (from a 10 per cent. sample) as 99 per cent.