§ Mr. Robin CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many children in Scotland were living in families below supplementary benefit level, on supplementary benefit and with incomes up to 140 per cent. of supplementary benefit level, classified by employment status; whether they were in one or two-parent families in 1985 on the latest basis and on a basis comparable with 1979 and 1981; and what proportion these children made up of the total number of children;
(2) how many people in Scotland in 1985 were (a) below, (b) at and (c) up to 140 per cent. of the supplementary benefit level on the latest basis and on a basis comparable with 1979 and 1981; what percentage of the total population they represent in each case; what is his estimate of the number of childen living in such households in each case; and what percentage of total children they represent in each case.
§ Mr. PortilloSeparate analyses for Scotland, Wales and particular regions cannot be prepared on a reliable basis. Figures based on the methods of "Households Below Average Income: 1981–85" and "Low Income Families—1985" are available only for Great Britain as a whole. More detailed discussion of the reasons leading to this conclusion may be found in chapter 1, paragraph 14 and chapter 3, paragraph 11 of "Low Income Statistics—Report of a Technical Review: March 1988", copies of which are in the Library. The principal difficulty is that the family expenditure survey does not allow reliable estimates of those with low incomes to be made below the national level.