§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on what assumptions about take-up rates the provision for family credit in the 1988 public expenditure White Paper was based.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe estimates of 470,000 family credit claimants and expenditure of £409 million were based on the assumption that the proportion of eligible employed earners who claimed family credit would be one fifth higher than for family income supplement. The estimates of total eligible population and expenditure were themselves subject to a number of assumptions, for example, about the movement in the levels of earnings and other income. They must therefore be treated with some caution.