§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what deduction can be drawn from the family expenditure survey as to the proportion of the average costs of raising one child, taking medium income in 1985 for a couple with one child as the reference point, which is covered by child benefit at the current rate.
§ Mr. PortilloRelevant information could not be extracted from the Family Expenditure Survey without disproportionate expense. But in any event, child benefit helps towards the extra costs faced by families with children, and is not intended to meet those costs in full nor to bear a specific relationship to the costs individual families may incur.