§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, pursuant to the answer given to the hon. Member for Birkenhead on 7 July, Official Report, column 115, on low income families, he will detail the reasons for and the nature of the technical review being undertaken.
§ Mr. ScottThe technical review is being conducted by officials from the Department of Health and Social Security and the Central Statistical Office. Since the methods and assumptions underlying the low-incomes statistics have never been systematically reassessed, the review is considering a range of bases of measurement, for example, the income-unit (the individual, the family and the household), the income-period (annual, current or normal), and how adjustments are to be made for the size and composition of income units. In addition, ideas in the academic literature are being reviewed. Some alternative approaches to the measurement of low income were outlined in the Green Paper "Reform of Social Security" (Cmnd. 9519).
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he hopes to publish the 1985 low-income families tables and the figures showing the number of children living in low-income families.
§ Mr. ScottI refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on Tuesday 7 July, at column115.