§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Scotland are currently in receipt of family income supplement; and what is his estimate of the numbers dependent on incomes between 100 and 140 per cent, of supplementary benefit level in Scotland.
§ Mr. MajorThe information is provided in the table.
Number Number of recipients of Family Income Supplement in Scotland at May 1986 (lastest available date). 1324,000 People in assessment units not in receipt of supplementary' benefit or housing benefit
supplement and with relative net resources
between 100 and 140 per cent. of the
supplementary benefit scale-rates
23378,000 1 Estimated from a 10 per cent. sample of family income supplement recipients. 2Based on assumptions contained in "Low Income Families—1983" copies of which are in the Library. 3 These two figures should not be added together. All estimates of people calculated in the low income figures are subject to sampling error. Any Scottish estimates of people who are not receiving supplementary benefit are particularly prone to this statistical problem. This is because of the small number of sample cases available in the family expenditure survey.
The Scottish samples have been translated into population estimates using factors based on data for Great Britain as a whole. Since the family expenditure survey response rate in Scotland may differ from that of Great Britain as a whole, and since the extent of the difference 710W may vary from one year to another, the Scottish estimates are more prone to grossing error than data for Great Britain.
Taken together, these two sources of statistical error make both trends and levels in the Scottish estimates peculiarly difficult to interpret. These statistical problems will be considered as part of the low income technical review.